Into The Future
by Taylor Hatake
Summary: Dalzen Morino gets sent into the future, where he once again meets Taylor Hatake, the older Sakumo Hatake and Kakashi Hatake. The conflict of how to get him back to his time and how to fix the holes in the fabric of space-time arises. Will they fix everything before it's too late? (Redo of "Mirai E")
1. Back to the Future

**Summary**: Dalzen Morino gets sent into the future, where he once again meets Taylor Hatake, the older Sakumo and Kakashi. The conflict of how to get him back to his time arises and they struggle to find the jutsu again.

**A/N**: A fanfiction to amuse Caliko (creator of _Coushander_) and I (creator of _Into The Past_). Her idea, so thank her for the idea. I never thought about it! And she's the one to get the idea stuck in my head so we're working together on this to create a fanfiction for our amusement. Poor Dalzen, doesn't know what's coming at him. And by the way, this is the redo of "Mirai E". :)

**Genre**: General

**Disclaimer**: Caliko owns Dalzen, Coushander, Saru-Shin, Kano, Takato and any others. Taylor Hatake, Daiichi Endo, Yuri Kimura, Kenji and Ayumu, and Kiiro Oshiro belong to me. Any other random characters might be Kishimoto's.

* * *

_Into The Future_

.

Chapter One  
**_Back To The Future_**

.

.

It was a quiet morning in Sunagakure; clear, blue skies, hot temperatures already, a slight breeze but it wasn't a cool breeze. Rather, the breeze was just as hot and showed no signs of cooling down. Of course, we're talking about a desert. It doesn't usually get cool to begin with, unless it's nighttime when it gets to about 40 degrees fahrenheit. The temperatures weren't as stable as Konoha's temperatures, but at least it wasn't muggy as hell every other day and raining about the same amount. Like every summer. It was normal for it to be muggy and humid and awfully hot in Konoha, while it was normal for it to be just plain hot there in Suna. At least, that's what 51-year-old Dalzen Morino had noted in the past two years he'd been there and other times he'd been in the Land of the Wind.

It was early that morning that eleven-and-a-half-year-old Sakumo Hatake found a messenger bird outside his room. The boy had just woken up when he saw it, and at first he wasn't sure what was there, then it hit him that it was a messenger bird. After he finally realized that, he opened the window and took the letter that the bird held and realized it was from the Hokage to his mentor. Once he realized that, Sakumo started dashing through the place he and his team were staying at until he found his sensei, Dalzen, in his room getting ready for another day in the Sand. Sakumo stood outside his door and listened Dalzen move around for a moment before he started knocking on the door.

"Sensei! Sensei!" he tried to snag Dalzen's attention.

Quietly, Dalzen zipped up his vest and then opened the door, frowning down at the kid. _What in the hell do you want? _he wondered.

"Yes, Sakumo?" he sighed.

"The Hokage sent you something," Sakumo told him, handing him the scroll.

Dalzen took the scroll, somewhat surprised.

"The Hokage?"

Sakumo nodded.

"Mhm."

Sighing, Dalzen opened up the scroll and read it silently to himself. _Dalzen, I need you to come here so I can give you a special mission. -Nidaime._ He sighed a bit in irritation. The Hokage needed him for a special mission? What could this special mission be?

"What is it?" Sakumo asked.

"I'm being asked to make a quick trip back to Konoha," he sighed.

"Will you take me with?"

"No, Sakumo!" Dalzen grabbed his gear and slung his bag over his shoulder. "It's only for me. You need to stay here, okay? I'll have Murasaki keep watch over you guys."

Dalzen began walking out of his room and he headed for the door. Sakumo followed quietly.

"I'll be back within a week, okay Sakumo? Tell Keiko that I'm gone."

"Yes sir," Sakumo looked down and sighed sadly. He never wanted to take Sakumo on anything except missions like this, or at least that's how he felt.

Dalzen bowed slightly and left to tell Murasaki and then the Kazekage.

.

On his way back to the Village Hidden in the Leaves, Dalzen saw two Tower genin (which of whom looked oddly like Uchiha, despite the color of their hair) with an usually big scroll. He just glanced at them and looked forward again, not wanting to ask what two Tower genin were doing out in the desert. One boy, with blonde hair and freckles dotting his cheeks, looked up at the tall man and snickered.

"Hey Ayumu, let's use this one on that guy over there," he whispered, pointing at a jutsu and then at Dalzen.

Ayumu, a boy with sandalwood-brown hair, looked up.

"Yeah," he grinned with agreement. "C'mon, let's trail him and do this, Kenji."

Both Ayumu and Kenji jumped up and followed Dalzen at a distance until they got the hand signs for the jutsu down. Then, they confronted him.

"Hey you! With the jet-black hair!" Kenji called out.

Dalzen stopped, looked over his shoulder and turned to face the genin.

"What do you two want?" he asked.

"Now Ayumu," Kenji hissed. "While he's distracted."

"What?" Dalzen said with an edge of irritation.

"Wanna see something cool?" Ayumu asked.

"No, not really," Dalzen grumbled bitterly. "Don't you two kids have something better to do than to bother a genjutsu expert like me?"

"Nope!"

"Oh, that's just great," Dalzen sighed.

Ayumu began a series of hand signs and they seemingly disappeared. Dalzen furrowed his eyebrows in irritation.

"Troublemakers," he grumbled in irritation. "Kids...what can you do about them?"

Something felt off and he noticed a little bit of the landscape changed. There were new rocks on the ground, not there before. And, it felt oddly humid. _Alrighty then, _he thought._ Must be a genjutsu. Okay, I'll play along with it._

.

Sixteen-year-old Taylor Hatake was returning home from a mission with her teammates, Yuri Kimura and Daiichi Endo, when Dalzen found them.

The mission itself was nothing much, just taking a lost item back to someone that visited the Leaf. And oddly enough...the mission took longer than they had expected, since they were ambushed on their way to that person's village. As usual, Taylor took the brunt of the injuries because she was the leader of the group and because she was trying to protect her comrades. Boy, she takes after her father alright. For a week, she had to rest before they could make the return trip home because she landed funny on her ankle and sprained it badly, and also was knocked out from a lack of chakra. When she finally woke up, she was told what happened and she laughed at it.

"That's so typical of me!" she had laughed.

They stayed at a motel that wasn't very popular, but it was still a good place as it was nice and quiet (and also had a hot spring, to Taylor's delight), until she could walk without crutches. When she could, they immediately left. Unfortunately for Taylor's teammates, she still had a bad limp so they had to walk slow so she wouldn't get upset at them for leaving her behind. Taylor almost always got mad if they started speeding up.

"Stop leaving me behind you little shits!" she'd exclaim at them. "You guys suck."

"Sorry!" they'd stop and wait for her again, but she knew they'd do it again just to tick her off.

"So...Taylor...want to get ramen?" Daiichi asked Taylor as they walked down the path to the village that morning.

"I've had enough ramen for one week," she groaned, hugging her sides at the thought of another bowl of ramen. "I just want steak that my grandpa makes. Besides, after I get this report to Tsunade I'm going home, taking a shower and I'm gonna pass out on the couch. I'm no where near hungry."

"Man you suck," Daiichi sighed.

"I'll come with you, Daiichi," Yuri offered.

"Awesome!"

Taylor sighed heavily.

"I don't get why y'all love ramen so much," she grumbled.

Having heard her voice, Dalzen looked up quickly as he recognized the voice. _That voice! But...how?_ This had to be a genjutsu because that voice belonged to a girl he met that was from the future. This had to be a genjutsu! Dalzen tried to break it, but with no such luck. Taylor caught his scent and stopped and inhaled it deeply.

"That's strange..." she murmured.

"Kai —release!" he muttered, looking around frantically. Nothing changed. "Dammit, I said kai —release!" Still, nothing changed and Dalzen was a little irritated. _What, am I doing something wrong? I've done this so many times and for so long, I can't possibly mess it up! _

"Hm..." Taylor looked over her shoulder. "This scent is oddly familiar..." she didn't immediately see Dalzen, but she knew someone was there that she knew.

"Huh?" both boys looked at her. "What do you mean?"

"You're crazy," Daiichi muttered.

"I mean, I know this scent," she snapped, turning around, kinda glancing past her teammates.

"Kai —release..." Dalzen still saw no change and he held his forehead. Frustrated already, he thought, _Why is it not working?!_

What in the world was going on? Moments later, Taylor saw him and her eyes widened, instantly recognizing the tall man. His face and his name were damn near impossible to forget, at least for Taylor.

"Dalzen!" she exclaimed.

The boys stared at her like she was insane. Well, she was a natural-born lunatic thanks to being a Hatake... Dalzen looked up and saw her running at him with her arms open. Before he could react, it was too late. She clung to him and hugged him.

"It is you! Still hug-able too, haha!" she grinned.

"T-Taylor? But...how?" he wondered. _This isn't a genjutsu is it? But...I thought she was in her time? How could she possibly be..._

Dalzen was shocked and utterly speechless.

"No, this has to be a genjutsu..." he told himself.

"A genjutsu?" Taylor looked at him, confused. "Dalzen...this isn't a genjutsu..."

"Well if it's not a genjutsu, are you stuck in the past again?"

"Not that I'm aware of," Taylor responded. "I haven't been in any battles lately...well, not counting last week's battle..."

Dalzen and Taylor both stared at each other, confused, and Daiichi and Yuri were just as confused as they were.

"What's going on?" both boys asked, looking at each other uneasily and then back at the crazy people.

"I dunno," responded both Taylor and Dalzen in confusion, they too looked at each other uneasily.

They were silent for a moment.

"Are you going to the Hokage?" Dalzen asked.

"Yeah. I have to turn in this mission report. Are you suggesting we see who is in that office?"

"Yes, I am."

Taylor grinned.

"Good idea. Let's go then!"

Daiichi and Yuri looked at each other.

"Is anyone gonna fill us in on what's going on?" Yuri asked them.

"Come with us and we'll explain," Taylor ordered.

"Fiiiine," Yuri sighed and he and Daiichi followed them into the village.

.

"This is my friend, Dalzen Morino. Almost four years ago, we met in a...can we say, confusing situation?" Taylor explained. "I had an excursion into the past and for nearly two months, I was stuck there, living with my great-grandfather. Dalzen was there to take me out of my great-grandfather's hair for a few hours."

"Yeah, and that did not work out like I had intended," Dalzen mentioned. "The weather got screwball within the second to third week."

"Yeah, I think after we sparred a bit that one day... it'd started snowing," Taylor remembered.

"Snow in November," Dalzen remarked. "I couldn't really believe it."

"Neither could I. I still think about that and I wonder what was mother nature thinking, going off her meds?" Taylor admitted.

"We were all thinking that," Dalzen looked at Taylor uneasily.

"Oh! I remember the snow in November," Daiichi said. "We missed a ton of school because of that and the other snowstorms we had that winter. It's a surprise Yuri and I even graduated on time."

"I still want to know how you two even graduated," Taylor muttered shortly. "But yeah, that is true."

"You're so mean sometimes, Senpai," Daiichi grumbled.

"Sure I am. You're just a freaking pansy if you can't handle my 'harsh' humor," Taylor backhanded Daiichi.

"OW!" Daiichi groaned.

Dalzen looked at Taylor, surprised. He never had seen her do anything of the sort, but then again he'd never actually seen her with kids her own age before. She never would've acted like that around him or Coushander. Apparently, there's a side to Taylor no one got to see. Either that or she's changed. He shook his head. Kids can be full of surprises, whether they're your own or if they are your friend's great-grandchild. Dalzen hung his head and stared down at the ground for a few moments. Could he really be in the future like he thinks? How would that play out? Hopefully, they still have the scroll to get him back to his time. Hopefully...

Dalzen looked back up and then decided to get to the point for Taylor before she started fighting Daiichi.

"So what we're going to get at, we're not sure if y'all are stuck in the past or if I'm in the future," Dalzen made the point as concise as possible.

"Yeah," Taylor agreed. "Which is why he's coming with us to the Hokage. In his time, the Hokage is Tobirama Senju, while in our time it's Tsunade Senju."

Daiichi and Yuri were confused but they nodded, acting like they knew what Taylor and the stranger were talking about.

"It's...hard to explain," Taylor mentioned.

"Obviously," Daiichi and Yuri both grumbled.

.

As they approached the Hokage's building, Taylor's heart filled with dread because she was scared that she and her team were trapped in the past again.

Like it was two-and-a-half years ago, only it was her then.

Every bit of that situation played in her dreams every night. The situation itself was pretty hard on Taylor, considering she got anxious quickly and easily and she was easy to scare or worry. She was most anxious about the fact that if she went out into the village, she'd see her grandfather and he'd see her and then something happens which screws up the timeline even further and hurts the Sakumo she knew and loved. That was definitely one of the things that'd caused her to be anxious since she couldn't get out of the house much to breathe. She didn't want the whole situation to happen all over again, as much as she missed Coushander and Dalzen and Saru-Shin.

While Taylor was worrying, Dalzen was quiet and calm. He wasn't as worried about it as Taylor was because he wasn't all that easy to worry to begin with. Dalzen was probably the most calm and collected person Taylor knew, next to her father. Well, her father has some things that make him anxious like...losing his daughter like he did three and a half years ago! He was definitely upset then, and it took a lot to do that.

Within minutes, they got upstairs to Tsunade's office and Taylor went to knock. Reluctantly, she knocked three times.

"L-Lady Tsunade?" she hesitated.

"Come in," came a woman's voice. Okay, that was definitely not Nidaime's voice, noted Dalzen.

"Oh great!" he exclaimed harshly under his breath. "That was most definitely not Nidai's voice!"_  
_

Without a word, Taylor opened the door and walked in. Dalzen and the boys stayed at the door.

"My mission report," she told the hokage, handing her the report.

"Thank you, Taylor," Tsunade thanked her with a gentle and kind smile.

Dalzen peered in. That really wasn't Nidai. Long, blonde hair tied back in pigtails and well, obviously this was a woman. Didn't Taylor call her Lady Tsunade? Dalzen didn't have time to think because the Hokage caught sight of his face.

"Uhm," Tsunade looked at Dalzen. "Who are you?"

Taylor looked behind her and saw Dalzen. She knew at some point she was gonna have to tell Tsunade, why not make it now?

"Oh, he's my friend..." she introduced. "Dalzen..."

"Dalzen Morino," he finished for Taylor.

Tsunade looked at him.

"Morino?" she repeated.

"He's not from our time though," Taylor mentioned quickly. "Remember 3 1/2 years ago when I was gone for almost two months?"

"Yeah? Barely...?"

"He...he's a friend of my great-grandfather and my great-granduncle. He was also my grandfather's sensei and he worked in the Intelligence division here in Konoha...like about fifty years ago..." Taylor tried to explain.

"There's been another accident, it appears, concerning the timeline," he finished for Taylor.

"I'm still trying to figure out why you thought it was a genjutsu!" Taylor grinned and rolled her eyes as she continued, "Wow, typical Dalzen."

Tsunade was slightly surprised.

"Ah! I see. Dalzen Morino, a genjutsu expert. The greatest of his time."

"I wouldn't consider myself that great but alright..." Dalzen murmured.

"You're mentioned in the academy when we're learning about genjutsu," Taylor told him.

"Really?" Dalzen remarked.

She nodded.

"When I was little, I'd pass by a class that was focusing on genjutsu and I know I heard your name a few times. Actually, your name stuck with me because I liked your name..." she told him. "I still do. Just so fun to say. _Dalzen_."

"That's weird to think about but I will take your word for it," he looked away thinking, _she's crazy if she thinks my name sounds nice...__  
_

Tsunade smiled.

"Thank you, Taylor, for informing me and for your mission report," she thanked.

Taylor nodded and the Hokage looked down to try and decipher Taylor's chicken-scratch handwriting. Taylor wrote fast a lot of the time, and her handwriting wasn't all that good so it took a bit for the Hokage to learn how to decipher her handwriting.

"Uhm...Lady Tsunade...don't we have a jutsu to send him back?" Taylor wondered after a few minutes.

Tsunade looked back up at her.

"Oh dear...I'm sorry Taylor, Mr. Morino. I'm afraid I burned the scroll in hopes of preventing this from ever happening again. I'm so sorry...I never thought it would happen again, I guess I should've remembered this was around in my uncle's time..." she apologized, looking down.

Dalzen looked at Taylor, wondering what he was gonna do. Taylor just nodded at Tsunade.

"Alright."

"Uhm Mr. Morino..."

"Please call me Dalzen, ma'am," he interjected.

"Dalzen...I know it'll be a long stay, considering you might not have a chance of getting back home...Whether you're gonna be returned home like Taylor was or not is a question that can't be answered at the moment. But, if you'd like to...you can retake the jounin exam and I can make you a shinobi for this timeframe?"

He glanced at Taylor, who shrugged.

"I don't think it'd hurt. It's not like you'll mess up the past by doing that," she told him. "You can only screw up the timeline in the past, not the future."

Dalzen glanced back at Tsunade.

"Alright, I suppose it's okay," he agreed. "Thank you, Lady Hokage."

"No problem. I'll summon you when the preparations are done for the exam."

"Yes ma'am."

He and Taylor bowed and left. Daiichi and Yuri looked at each other.

"You two, go get your damn ramen," Taylor dismissed them. "And have fun because I sure as hell ain't having fun..."

"Yes, Taylor-Sama," they said, dashing out.

Taylor folded her arms and sighed heavily.

"And my plans for a nice rest goes down the drain..." she grumbled, holding her head.

"Sorry," Dalzen apologized.

"Not your fault, Dalzen. You couldn't have possibly seen it coming," Taylor walked away. "Come on, Dalzen-Sensei...guess you're staying with us."

She beckoned for him to follow her. Not knowing what else to do, Dalzen followed her.

"You sure, Taylor?"

Taylor glanced over her shoulder with an assuring grin.

"Absolutely," she said. "I'd do anything for a friend. Besides, it's not like you have anywhere else to stay. All the motels here are packed tightly at this time of year and you can't get a room unless you want to share with a complete and total stranger, or strangers."

"Yeah...no thanks," Dalzen agreed with her point. "I don't really care much for crowds."

"Good." Taylor looked forward and led him back to her house.

.

When they got home, Taylor called out, "_Tadaima_!"

No response.

"Oh wow, I guess Grandpa is asleep and Dad's outside... Sit down, Dalzen. Please, make yourself comfortable."

Reluctantly, he nodded.

"Right..." he slipped off his sandals, sat them down beside Taylor's, and he sat down on the couch.

"I'll be right back." Taylor grinned and dashed down the hallway to Sakumo's room. She opened the door and jumped on him.

"Grandpa!"

He didn't open his eyes at first, so Taylor grabbed a pillow off the floor and smacked him playfully with it. Such a child, but that was her charm. Her playfulness when she's home kinda brightened the mood some days.

"Grandpa, you need to wake up!"

Before Taylor could smack him again, Sakumo snatched the pillow from Taylor and threw it on the ground. Then, he groaned.

"What, sweetheart?" he asked, opening his eyes finally.

"Grandpa, we have a predicament," she told him seriously and with a grim expression.

.

Dalzen looked around, studying the surroundings. Didn't look too much different from Coushander's living room, but there were some noticeable differences. There was a shelf on the wall in front of him with a picture of Taylor, Sakumo and Kakashi in what appeared to be in the Iwa mountains. They appeared to be geared up to do some skiing, Dalzen assumed. Well, people did go there to do skiing and snowboarding, especially in winter.

The sofa was a different style than what Coushander had. They had a black sofa and one end of it was long enough to allow for someone to sleep. Obviously, that section was meant for a petite person, like Taylor. From what Dalzen remembered, Sakumo and his son were rather tall. Certainly too tall for that section, like Dalzen himself was. Last time he'd checked, he was a whole 195 centimeters tall! Or, close to it. Definitely too tall for that section.

Before he could glance around some more, he caught voices, one of them belonging to Taylor. He glanced at the hallway uneasily.

"So, you're telling me Dalzen is trapped in the future with us?" came an obviously groggy voice. That must be Sakumo.

"Yeah."

Moments later, they finally came into Dalzen's sight as they spoke.

"And he is sitting on the couch," Taylor added, pointing at Dalzen. "See, Grandpa?"

Sakumo looked and was suddenly startled by his sensei.

"Oh shit!" he exclaimed. "I thought Taylor was joking."

Dalzen shook his head.

"She isn't," he said. "As much as I wish she was...It's me, Dalzen..."

"How did this even happen?" Sakumo wondered.

Both Dalzen and Taylor fell silent. Neither one of them knew how he got in their time.

"I was on my way back from...a mission," he worded carefully, "And I ran past two tower genin. That was the last interaction I had before seeing Taylor in the forest...The genin had a rather large scroll with them...but I had no idea it was likely _that_ scroll."

Sakumo let out a heavy sigh.

"Shit..." he said. "And I gave my copy of the scroll with the jutsu to Tsunade, who burned that and the original. I don't even remember how to do the jutsu... I forgot it quickly."

"I guess I really am stuck," Dalzen sighed hopelessly.

"It's alright, Dalzen" Sakumo assured with a smile. "We'll find a way to get you back. For now, please stay with us.

Dalzen nodded.

"Taylor already insisted on it. But, thank you," he thanked them.

"It's nothing, Sensei," Sakumo smiled. "And since I'm up...I'll go start on breakfast."

"I'm assuming you made Dad work in the fields today? Taylor asked.

"Yeah, I did," Sakumo grinned. "I'm sore after what I did yesterday. Kakashi needs to learn to work the field, who knows how much longer I'll last."

"What'd you do yesterday?" Taylor wondered. "And don't even think about going there, Grandpa."

"I'll...tell you later," Sakumo chuckled wryly.

"Alright, I guess I'll go infiltrate him," Taylor bowed to Dalzen and Sakumo, then went out through the backdoor.

"Infiltrate?" Dalzen looked at Sakumo.

"She says 'infiltrate' like you do. You see what you did to my granddaughter?" Sakumo grinned.

"'Infiltrate' sounds much better that 'spy'," Dalzen grumbled under his breath.

"I know, Sensei." Sakumo grinned. "I was your student, remember?"

"It's kind of hard to forget that, Sakumo," Dalzen rolled his eyes.

.

Taylor hid in the wheat, spying on Kakashi. She was waiting for the right time to jump out and strike her dad with a hug.

Kakashi was wearing a shirt with patches of light blue sewn on, which was a change from his uniform shirts. Taylor watched as he stood straight, rubbing his forehead. She heard him mumble under his breath.

"Phew! It's hot out here this morning," he commented, looking up at the sky. "Or maybe it's just extremely humid. Looks like it'll rain later."

Taylor looked up too.

"Huh, he's right. Looks like a storm is brewing," she agreed quietly.

Immediately, Kakashi heard her voice.

"Huh?" he looked around. _Was that Taylor I heard?_ "Taylor?" he called out. Was she even home yet?

Taylor made herself stay quiet, even though she wanted to start giggling. She covered her mouth and tried to stay quiet.

"Taylor?"

A few moments passed.

"I guess I was imagining things," he chuckled.

Dalzen walked over to Sakumo, who was chuckling, and looked out the kitchen window with him.

"What?" he wondered.

"Kakashi and Taylor. Kakashi is oblivious to Taylor, who's hiding there in the wheat. Actually, that might be why he can't smell her. Her scent is blending in with the wheat," Sakumo chuckled. "But you see Taylor is crouched on all fours like a cat hunting her prey."

Dalzen and Sakumo watched as Kakashi started walking back towards the house and into Taylor's reach. She waited until he was within jumping distance and when he was, Taylor jumped out from the wheat and jumped onto Kakashi's back. Dalzen and Sakumo both chuckled a bit as Kakashi stumbled forward, his eyes wide with surprise.

"Dammit Taylor," Kakashi laughed. "You stealthy little girl, you got me!"

Taylor giggled and hugged him.

"I'm home Daddy," she grinned.

"Yeah. I-I can see that," he said bringing her back inside with him. "You're so silly!"

"Aww. Isn't that just sweet?" Sakumo grinned, watching them.

Dalzen nodded, "Yeah."

Kakashi came inside with his daughter and sat her back on her feet.

"Go get your shower," he told her. "I know you haven't showered since you left for that mission."

"Actually I was in the hot springs so that's sorta bathing. And, I was getting there," she smiled and dashed off. Kakashi smiled wearily and looked over at Sakumo and Dalzen.

"Huh?" he was surprised to see Dalzen. "Weren't you...?"

"The one that taught your daughter genjutsu?" Dalzen finished. "Yeah."

"Yeah...that..." Kakashi was confused. "But you're from the past right? My dad's past?"

"Yeah, I am," Dalzen nodded.

"So how are you here?" Kakashi wondered.

"Uh...really, I have no clue how I'm here," Dalzen admitted. "And I'd rather not think about it."

"Dalzen is going to stay with us until we find the jutsu to send him back," Sakumo told his son.

Kakashi nodded.

"If you and Taylor trust it, then I will too," he said.

"Good."

Dalzen sighed a little as he thought about the eleven-and-a-half-year-old Sakumo back in Suna. How was he going to cope with this? Hell if Dalzen knew. All he could hope for was Sakumo then to be alright and Nidai finding out what happened.

.

.


	2. What's Going On?

_Into The Future_

.

Chapter Two

_**What's Going On?**_

.

.

Nidaime paced around his office later on that night, waiting for Dalzen to show up. _Where's Dalzen_? he wondered. _Dalzen is never_ late.

The man looked out the window at the village. The sun was setting, and it's orange rays caused everything to have an orange tint to them. Soon, the sun was hidden behind rain clouds. Not too soon after the sky was cloudy enough to start raining, the wind kicked up and started thundering. The Second hoped Dalzen wasn't severely injured or caught in a nasty battle. _I hope you're alright, Mr. Morino_.

.

"I hope you don't mind the couch," Taylor told Dalzen before heading to bed. She had just come back from searching for an extra pillow and an extra blanket, and it took her a few moments to bring him a blanket and a pillow. "We don't have an extra room, unfortunately."

"I'll be fine," he told her. "I've slept on worse. Not saying this is bad though."

"Yeah..." Taylor looked down. _I just want you to be as comfortable as possible_, she wanted to say.

She handed Dalzen the pillow and blanket and smiled.

"Thank you, Taylor," he thanked her, draping the blanket over his shoulders quickly. "I'm grateful you guys are letting me stay here."

"It's nothing," Taylor smiled. "We're glad to help."

Dalzen let slip a quick smile and he sat the pillow down where he was going to lay his head and looked at Taylor.

"Sleep well, Dalzen," she grinned.

"Thank you, Taylor."

She bowed and headed into her room. Dalzen laid down on his back and stared blankly at the ceiling. Taylor turned off the hallway light and closed her door.

Dalzen was left alone. Alone to think. He wasn't all that tired yet, so he thought. He thought about his timeline. What was the mission Nidai was planning to send him on? How important was it? Were Sakumo and Keiko okay? What about his wife and kids?_  
_

He put his hands on his face. They're okay. He hasn't been gone that long yet. Well, he's been away from home for a few years. Occasionally, he'd get a letter from his wife and his kids and he'd try to write back as soon as possible.

He sighed. _Go to sleep_, he told himself. _Go to sleep, stop worrying._

Dalzen closed his eyes and dozed off.

.

Taylor tossed and turned in bed. As usual, she wasn't having any luck sleeping. That day, two and a half years ago when she nearly died, continued to haunt her. She still hasn't told Kakashi or Sakumo about it because she didn't like to tell people her problems. Although, they weren't just any people. They were her family, so you would think she would tell them, right? No. As much as she wanted to tell them, she just couldn't bring herself to tell them. She was just...scared. Every time she would think about telling Kakashi, she would look at him and remember the twenty-fifth rule of shinobi conduct, and then she would back away nervously and forget about it. "Forget it," she would tell Kakashi. "I'm fine." And with reluctance, the father would back off although he really shouldn't have. Sometimes, Kakashi regrets not pushing her to tell him, even if she thinks it's stupid.

For the past two and a half years, she's been fighting a slight depression and whether she admits it or not, she's got anxiety. She's even had a few panic attacks and every time she did, Sakumo or Kakashi tried to keep her calm, or bring her back to a calm state. Well, if Taylor didn't try to suppress her emotions maybe she wouldn't be so depressed and anxious... But maybe it's not all that easy to not suppress her emotions, she was a shinobi after all.

Kakashi had a feeling as to what's causing her panic attacks, but he couldn't be sure until Taylor told him.

She wants to, very badly. But she doesn't know how to tell. She needs to though. Literally, Taylor was losing sleep over it. Every night, she worried it would happen again, and she would never make it back this time.

Taylor didn't want it to happen. As much as she missed Coushander, Dalzen and Saru, she couldn't bear the thought of it happening again.

She sat up in her bed and sighed, scratching her head. _I wish I wasn't so anxious_, she thought. _I can't sleep_!

Sighing again, she turned her light back on and pulled out a book to read herself to sleep.

.

Dalzen, Sakumo and Kakashi were all woken up by the sound of Taylor crying out in fear. Looks like she did manage to fall asleep.

Dalzen's eyes flew open. _What the hell was that_? he wondered. Quickly, he sat up and after a few moments of thinking about the voice, he stood up. _Sounded like Taylor. I should see if she's okay because she actually sounded scared._

He headed down the hall and when he got there, he stood outside the door.

"Taylor?" he whispered.

No response. Without thinking, he cautiously opened the door and walked in, only to be greeted by Taylor attempting to attack him with her katana. Lucky for Dalzen, she doesn't sleep half-naked. She sleeps in her day clothes (unless they were too dirty, in which case she changed into another shirt).

Dalzen was able to stop her. He appeared behind Taylor — like a ghost — and grabbed her hands, putting one behind her back and the other hand with the katana he had the katana pointing at her head. He grunted, slightly annoyed that he almost got himself hurt. He should've waited for Kakashi and Sakumo, let them nearly get hurt by the youngest Hatake.

"Wake up, Taylor. It's just me, Dalzen," he whispered in her ear. Maybe that'd wake her.

She opened her eyes, looking startled. It took her a moment to realize that she was awake, and that Dalzen was behind her. He clenched her hands, making sure she couldn't escape and try to hurt him again. He had no idea that she opened her eyes.

"Huh?"

"You okay, Taylor?" Dalzen asked her.

Taylor did not respond. She was still trying to figure out why Dalzen was behind her, pointing her katana at the back of her head and holding her other hand behind her back.

"D-Dalzen? Wh-What are you doing?" she wondered.

"I could ask you the same..." he grumbled.

Finally, Sakumo got to her room and Kakashi just after his father arrived at the room.

"Taylor, are you okay?" Sakumo asked, then noticing Dalzen. "Dalzen?"

"She came at me with her katana," Dalzen explained.

"Oh I did...?" she sighed. "Shit."

Taylor let go of the black katana and let it clatter on the floor.

"I'm fine," she stuttered. "Just...a bad dream..."

"That looked like it was more than a bad dream," Dalzen grumbled.

Taylor yanked her hands out of Dalzen's tight grip.

"I'm fine," she repeated, looking at them. "I'm sorry I woke you guys."

"Taylor," Kakashi started. "Are you sure?"

Taylor nodded, picking the katana up.

"I'm fine, Dad." She looked at them with concern, "Please guys, go back to sleep. I'm being...me..."

Kakashi sighed heavily.

"Alright..."

Taylor stood up on her toes and gave Kakashi and Sakumo a kiss on their cheek.

"I'm okay," she assured. _Just a little damaged on the inside, though_, she wanted to add.

Kakashi kissed her back and he left with Sakumo. Dalzen stayed, though.

"I hope you don't do that to me every time I do this," he teased her.

"Dammit, I thought you were an intruder," she grumbled.

"It's okay," Dalzen told her. "I am used to being ambushed."

Taylor looked down.

"Please go back to bed," she told him.

"Of course."

Dalzen left and Taylor closed the door behind him. Sighing, she sat down on her bed and held the katana in her hands. That katana was Coushander's and as she looked at it, she could hear him begging her to tell them that no, she's not okay, and then tell them what's going on. _I want to, Coushander, but I can't bring myself to tell them, _she thought. _Shit, Dalzen might end up pushing me to speak._ All he had to do was just press her, much more than what Kakashi and Sakumo were doing. Sighing, she laid it down on the floor beside her bed and laid on her bed.

Dalzen looked at Sakumo and Kakashi.

"What was that all about?" he wondered as they walked towards the kitchen.

"We forgot to mention...she has night terrors," Sakumo explained. "She wakes up screaming late at night. Her screaming can be heard throughout the entire house."

"But we don't know what the night terrors are about, we just know she's being scared," Kakashi added. "And I know she knows what they're about, but she won't tell us."

"Why? I know she trusts you two," Dalzen wondered.

"She trusts us, but whatever is happening in her dreams, she's too scared to tell us," Sakumo said. "...And I might know why... _Kakashi_!"

Kakashi looked at Sakumo.

"I don't enforce the laws of being a shinobi at home."

"Yeah, but she thinks you do so she doesn't want to show weakness like fear. Although she's willing to do a lot of crying in front of us..." Sakumo sighed heavily. "But, whatever it is that has been giving her nightmares, it's been affecting her since that predicament."

"It's been affecting her mentally and emotionally," Kakashi added. "She's been having mental breakdowns and we have no idea how to fix it, but we need to figure out how before she has one in front of her teammates or in a battle."

Sakumo sighed.

"I wish she'd tell us so we can help her..."

Everyone fell silent for a few moments, then Dalzen thought of something.

"It started two and a half years ago?" he inquired, looking up at the Hatake men.

"Yeah. About a week after she got back too...What a way to start the new year..."

"Well, would it be plausible if it was that whole situation that's been haunting her?" Dalzen proposed his idea.

"That's our theory, but we can't be sure until Taylor actually tells us," Kakashi admitted.

Sakumo sighed again.

"But, we don't want her to know that we've noticed her behavior," he said. "She really won't be will to tell us at all if we press her."

Dalzen nodded.

"Oh, well that makes sense...She's stubborn. Kinda like someone's father I know..." he teased Sakumo.

"Oh we all know that he's stubborn," Sakumo grumbled. "I think that's okay though, with the shit he went through I don't blame him for being more stubborn..."

Kakashi sighed and sat down at the table.

Dalzen sat back down on the couch and looked out the window and saw it was raining. He couldn't help but think about when he and Taylor met. He was walking Coushander home and out of the blue, they heard a girl say, "Grandpa". She mistook Coushander for Sakumo, and now that he knew the older Sakumo, he knew why.

When they told her she had the wrong man, she continued past them and headed straight for the elder's house. Both men were confused, but they followed her. She crossed into the elder's land and got to the porch, where she passed out from a lack of blood. Dalzen and Coushander had to take her inside, even though Coushander didn't want anything to do with her, and they had her fixed up by Kano. The next morning, she woke up and as he tried to stop her from running out, she beat on him until he let her go and that was her chance to run, which she most definitely took. Now looking back upon that, it amused Dalzen that he let a little girl beat the hell out of him like that. All it took were three strong punches to the gut and he let go.

As soon as she got him to let her go, he knew that was the force of a shinobi and that girl was a shinobi. When he and Kano convinced Coushander to let her stay with him, Dalzen would take her out of his hair for a few hours.

In all that time Dalzen was with Taylor, not once did it seem like she was scared, other than that first day but that was beside the point. She was in a room full of strangers, no wonder she was scared! Especially when she saw Dalzen himself. She was slightly frightened by him at first, but warmed up quickly because he seemed much nicer than what his looks said.

A loud crash of thunder snapped Dalzen out of his thoughts.

"Man, no more crazy nor'easters!" Sakumo groaned, watching the wheat.

"Yeah really. I'm surprised the wheat has held up as well as it has," Kakashi remarked.

"So, you took over the Hatake business?" Dalzen asked, looking out the window.

Sakumo looked over his shoulder.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, you grow and sell wheat like your _otousan_?"

"Yeah...I thought it was the least I could do for my old man. Besides, I like the smell of wheat at dawn and dusk," Sakumo responded. "I like doing it."

"Bet your old man would love to know that," Dalzen told Sakumo.

"I'm sure he would, Sensei," Sakumo smiled. "So, Dalzen, what do you want to drink? We've got water, tea, and heck, I've got soda if you're interested."

"I'll pass on the soda, Sakumo," Dalzen told him.

"I figured as much but I thought I'd offer anyway. Actually, that's probably wise that you pass on soda...I think that's Taylor's stuff..." Sakumo realized at the end.

"Thank you, though. But I don't care what you bring me as long as it's not soda," Dalzen told Sakumo.

Sakumo chuckled.

"Ah, well you're stuck with tea then," he grinned.

"That's fine, Sakumo."

He watched Sakumo stumble over to the fridge. It was odd seeing Sakumo so much older. His grey eyes were much lighter than what Dalzen remembers and his hair was as long as Taylor's. He was very tall, nearly Dalzen's height minus four inches. He had subtle lines around his mouth and there were lines under his eyes. His hair was still as full and fluffy as what Dalzen knows from the younger Sakumo and it was still grey, but in the light sometimes he could make out white strands of hair. So, since most Hatake are born with grey hair, that must mean when they get older their hair goes white. But what if they are like Saru and have white hair? Do they go grey? That would be something to see...

Despite Sakumo's older appearance, looking nearly like his father, he seemed so much younger than he appeared. It was like he was a 40-year-old trapped in a 56-year-old's body.

In a way, it was true. Sakumo died many years ago, yet one day...before his granddaughter was born — about three days (even though Taylor was originally supposed to be born a week later, but she wasn't thankfully) — he was brought back to life. (Coincidence? I think not!) Whatever or whoever did it, no one knew, but all Sakumo knew was that he was glad he was revived because without him, Kakashi wouldn't know what to do with Taylor. Sakumo was once a father, and Kakashi would've needed his guidance.

Dalzen remembered Sakumo telling him that. It was odd to know that, but it left Dalzen curious to know how Sakumo was revived but if Sakumo and Kakashi haven't learned how it happened in the past 16 years, then there was no way Dalzen would find out himself.

Sakumo came in and handed Dalzen a cup of tea, "Here you go," he smiled.

Dalzen inclined his head respectfully, "Thank you, Sakumo."

"You're very welcome, Dalzen," Sakumo smiled.

.

Taylor finally crawled back out of bed around eleven that morning. She really wasn't feeling well, though, but she came out of her room to eat lunch because she was hungry anyway. Sakumo saw her and could tell she wasn't feeling well.

"You okay?" Sakumo asked her as he cooked.

She leaned against the fridge and shrugged.

"I got out of bed didn't I?"

"In other words, you're not feeling well."

"I think it's my allergies," Taylor admitted. "It's just my sinuses, my head and my throat."

"Go take your medicine then."

"I don't have any left. Daiichi accidentally threw away the bottle thinking that it was empty."

"Are you kidding me? That was a new bottle!"

"Sorry...I didn't notice until half-way home when we got to the forest."

Sakumo groaned.

"Damn kids..." he grumbled.

Dalzen looked at them.

"If you want, I can walk her down to the village to get another thing of allergy meds," he offered.

Sakumo glanced at his sensei.

"Are you sure?" he asked. "I don't want you to feel like you have to. I mean, Taylor is 16, she should be able to go by herself."

He looked at the girl. Taylor's arms were behind her back as she shyly glanced at him. He couldn't tell whether or not she wanted company, but Dalzen felt that she did.

"Yeah, I'm sure," Dalzen nodded. "Besides...I can get to know the future Konoha in the process."

"Alright..." Sakumo looked at Taylor. "Taylor, are you okay with Dalzen escorting you?"

She shrugged.

"Yeah. That's fine."

Dalzen stood up.

"Go get what you need from my wallet, okay?" Sakumo told Taylor.

"Yes Grandpa."

Taylor left to go search for Sakumo's wallet and Dalzen glanced at him.

"Are you okay?"

"No, I'm pretty stressed," Sakumo admitted. "Not knowing what's wrong with Taylor is driving me nuts."

He looked down.

"I might say it a lot, but I do wish she'd tell us what's wrong with her," he told his sensei.

"I understand," Dalzen said with a sigh. "I would probably feel the same way if one of my kids was behaving like Taylor — the night terrors and the mental breakdowns — and not tell me what was wrong. I guess I'd be a bit worried too."

Taylor returned with enough yen to buy allergy meds.

"C'mon Dalzen...if you want to still come," Taylor said in her very quiet voice.

Dalzen walked over to her and they both slipped their sandals on.

"We'll be back," Taylor told Sakumo.

"Alright. Thanks Dalzen," Sakumo smiled.

"It's nothing, Sakumo."

.

Eleven-year-old Sakumo ate his bento box at lunch with Keiko, his teammate, and Murasaki, the girl watching over the two.

"Hey Murasaki, shouldn't Sensei be back by now?" he asked.

Murasaki glanced up.

"It's a special mission from intel, Sakumo," she said. "He might not be back for a few weeks."

Sakumo looked down.

"Oh...right...a special mission." he stuck a bit of rice in his mouth. "Sorry..."

.

Nidai went to the intelligence ward and asked if anyone had seen or heard from Dalzen. He got pretty much the same answers.

"Sorry sir, Dalzen hasn't been here in like, forever!"

"Nope, no sign of the Morino!"

"Geez, I haven't thought about him in a while..."

Then came the Uchiha's answers...

"Oh! Morino is missing? Good for him..."

Nidai had to take that as a definite no. But something told him the Uchiha knew something he didn't. But, the second Hokage didn't press them. He wasn't sure if they knew something or not, They probably didn't. Dalzen tended to stay away from the Uchiha anyway.

He sighed. Maybe Dalzen will show up soon. Nidaime could only hope.

.

Dalzen and Taylor walked in silence. Together, they went into the store when they got there and Taylor looked around till she found the allergy medicines, which she grabbed a bottle of one and payed for it. Then, they headed back out. It wasn't five minutes before Taylor caught sight of Kiiro's Arts and Crafts store and remembered she needed something.

"Dalzen, do you mind if I go into the art store over there for a moment? I need more bristol board."

"I have no idea what that means, but I guess so," he nodded.

"Great!' Taylor led him into the store and she went looking for her stuff. Dalzen knew this store was something else before it became the art store, but he had no clue what was there before. He glanced around. He hadn't the foggiest about art, all he knew was Taylor was great at it. Dalzen stood there stupidly, wondering if he should follow Taylor or just stay there. He chose the latter. Then, he heard a voice.

"Need help looking for something?"

Dalzen turned around and saw a woman with greying, brown hair and emerald eyes. She wore a violet, low-collar blouse with fish-net underneath. The woman smiled at him.

"Ah...no... I-I don't need help... I'm just here with..." he thought for a moment and chose what he was going to call her. To hell with it, he's her uncle whether he realizes it or not. Not biological of course... "...With my niece. She needed something so I brought her here."

The woman kept the smile on her face.

"Oh, I see."

Taylor bounded over to them with two bristol board sketchbooks.

"Afternoon, Kiiro-San," Taylor ginned.

"Ah! Good afternoon, Taylor. Got what you need?" the woman looked at Taylor.

"Yeah," she pulled out her wallet and pulled out the money to pay for the sketchbooks.

"2000 yen for 2 22.9 x 30.5cm sketchbooks?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Right."

She handed the 2000 yen over to Kiiro and grinned.

"Thank you Miss Taylor," Kiiro smiled.

"Are you ready now?" Dalzen asked Taylor.

"Yes, Dalzen," Taylor nodded.

Kiiro looked at Dalzen.

"Oh? Is this your niece?"

"Not technically..."

"I just say you're a friend," Taylor shrugged. "But family works just as well."

"Oh, I see. Wonder why I haven't seen him before..."

_You don't need to tell EVERYONE,_ Dalzen thought bitterly, holding his head in the palm of his head. Embarrassed? Perhaps a little. He was the last person anyone would have thought that would get into this type of situation. It was a little embarrassing to hear that he got caught in this..._predicament_.

"Because...he isn't from this time," Taylor explained. "He taught my grandfather, to give you an idea of what time he's from."

"I see." She looked at Dalzen. "I'm Kiiro, I'm the art store owner."

"Dalzen Morino," Dalzen said his name for the umpteenth time in 24 hours. Man, he's said and heard his name so many times in the last 24 hours, he really would be unlikely to forget his own name. Well, as if he could forget his name.

"Pleased to meet you," Kiiro smiled.

"Likewise," Dalzen returned the smile quickly.

"So, I guess this is another time incident?" Kiiro asked.

"Yeah, but we don't know who did it, exactly," Dalzen said.

"Oh, how I love a good mystery..." Kiiro mused about her collection of mystery novels. "Too bad Tsunade burned the scrolls with the time jutsu, at least the ones in the village."

"Yeah..."

Kiiro thought for a moment.

"Have you guys started sending the other Kage messages, asking who might have a scroll with a similar jutsu?" Kiiro wondered.

"You know, that never even crossed our minds," Taylor realized.

"Good idea," Dalzen agreed, looking at Taylor. "Think we should do that?"

"Yeah," she nodded. "Thank you Kiiro-san. We never even thought about that."

"It's no problem Miss Taylor," Kiiro smiled.

Taylor hugged her and she returned the hug.

"Hey, you need to show me what you've been doing," Kiiro suggested.

"Okay, I'll bring my binder over in the next week or two," Taylor promised.

"Great," Kiiro smiled. "I'll see y'all later then."

"See ya!" Taylor smiled, bowing and leaving. Dalzen did the same and followed Taylor out.

.

By the time they got home, lunch was done. Taylor walked inside and took her allergy medicine with a cold glass of water and she sighed heavily.

"Man, my allergies are really killin' me!" she grumbled. "I can't breathe from my nose right now."

"Aw," Sakumo chuckled. "Should'a told them to stay out of your stuff."

"But that's the thing! I did tell them," Taylor exclaimed. "After I woke up from being unconscious, of course. Did I mention I sprained my ankle and was knocked out?"

"Wow, they suck at listening then. And no, you didn't. That would explain the bad limp you have right now."

"Yeah, they do. And yeah...hurts like hell to walk but I don't care."

"Well then, if you really don't care...will you get the dishes out and go get your father from his room please?'

"Of course, Grandpa."

Taylor pulled out dishes for them to eat from and chopsticks/spoons, then went to her father's room and knocked on his door.

"Dad?"

"Yeah?"

"Lunch."

"Okay, thank you sweetheart."

"No problem, Daddy."

.

.


	3. I See You, Jounin

_Into The Future_

.

Chapter Three

_**I See You, Jounin**_

.

.

"So, we have an idea of what we can do to find the jutsu," Taylor told Sakumo and Kakashi at lunch. "I'd stopped off at Kiiro's to get more bristol board and she met Dalzen and I had to explain to her how he's here and she asked if we have started asking the other kages and leaders of the small villages and kingdoms."

"And we said, no, the thought never had crossed our minds," Dalzen continued for Taylor.

"So, we need to start writing to the other kage and leaders," Taylor finished.

Sakumo and Kakashi looked at each other.

"Wow, none of us thought of that," Kakashi said.

"That's why we love Kiiro, she always knows what to do. Reminds me of Guinan from Star Trek," Sakumo smiled. "Great idea!"

Taylor smiled.

"I've got the four other main kage," Taylor called dibs.

"I've got the kingdoms," Kakashi called.

"Guess I've got minor shinobi villages," Sakumo grumbled.

Dalzen looked at them.

"Do you guys need help?" he asked.

"Nah, I've got four letters to write. I've written 100 pages for a book in two days before so four letters should be a breeze," Taylor grinned.

"I'll be fine," Sakumo assured.

"Nah, there's only two kingdoms to write to," Kakashi said.

"But thank you, Dalzen-Sensei," Taylor smiled.

"Alright, if you guys say so," Dalzen shrugged.

.

Taylor spent the afternoon writing the letters to the Raikage and the Kazekage, up until her hand began to cramp up from the writing.

"Ow!" Dropping the brush on her desk, Taylor gripped her wrist and clenched and unclenched her hand.

"Dammit. It's RMI again," she groaned, standing up and walking over to her dresser where she kept a navy blue hand brace. Picking it up, she slipped it onto her hand and strapped it up. "Guess I'll take a break..."

She looked at the letter she had actually finished and tied it up. Then, she walked over to her bed and opened the window carefully. With a whistle, she then summoned her owl, Michiko. Taylor stood back to allow her little owl to come in. The barn owl swooped in with her majestic wings and landed on Taylor's arm.

"Hey, take this to the Raikage," she ordered in a soft voice, offering a bit of sugar for the beautiful barn owl as a treat. She was an oddball owl. She liked a little bit of sweets. Taylor always kept sugar by her so she could get Michiko, since she likes sugar. No one knows why really. Animals can really find some of the strangest things to snack on...

Dalzen just so happened by her room when he saw Michiko lick the sugar from her hand and take the scroll from her. He stopped at her door and watched silently.

"There you go, Michiko," Taylor smiled. "Thank you."

The owl gave a curt nod and took off back through the open window and Taylor sighed, rubbing her hand.

"Stupid repetitive motion injury," she cursed out the injury, turning around and jumping at the sight of Dalzen. "Gah! What the heck?! Dalzen! You startled me."

"Sorry," Dalzen apologized. He worded his next question as carefully as possible, "So...Taylor...was that an _owl_ I caught sight of?"

"An owl? Oh! Yes, but it's not Hoshu, oh believe me. I've checked, and that's a girl. Plus, she's too white to be Hoshu," Taylor explained. "By the way, her name's Michiko."

"...Oh."

"But...I do want to say that you got me into owls, a bit," Taylor admitted. "I wanted one to remember you by and once I had Michiko, I became pretty fascinated with them. I love owls like I love any other animal really, except I _love_ cats and I absolutely _hate_ spiders. I just can't stand spiders and snakes. Still scared of them, even after nearly three years."

Dalzen let slip a little laugh.

"Still the Taylor I remember," he remarked. "Scared of spiders and snakes. Typical..."

Taylor grinned and giggled when he realized she had said that he got her into animals.

"Aw! I think I see a little bit of blush," she grinned.

"I'm not —"

"I'm teasing," Taylor walked towards him and hugged him. "But I'm serious about wanting to remember you."

Dalzen raised his eyebrows with surprise, "...Really?"

"Yeah," Taylor smiled. "You're really kind to me and you helped me practice genjutsu."

Dalzen couldn't find a response, but Taylor wasn't expecting one. Instead, she let go of him and with a smile, she walked away to get a fruit to snack on.

Dalzen never would have thought that she would try to remember him like that, but he smiled a bit. _You're too kind_, he wanted to say to her.

.

Taylor went outside and sat alone on the porch after supper. As he washed the dishes, Kakashi glanced out the window at his daughter sitting alone. At one point, he even dried his hands off just to check on her. Her response, figures, was an unbelieveable, "I'm fine" so he sighed and went back to finish washing dishes. Dalzen noticed and walked over to Kakashi.

"I'm gonna see what's on her mind," he said.

Kakashi rinsed the dish he was working on, "You sure?"

"Yeah," Dalzen nodded. "Maybe she'll finally tell what's on her mind if I ask her..."

Kakashi put the dish in the dish drainer.

"Well, if you really think she'll tell you, then go ahead. She hasn't told us, so I'm a bit skeptical about it."

Dalzen nodded.

"I can't say I blame you," he told Kakashi, walking away and going out to join Taylor.

The door opened, but Taylor didn't turn to see who it was. Moments later, she was joined by Dalzen. He sat down beside her and stared at the wheat with her, both gazing out at the yellow, stationary front of wheat. It took a few moments of thinking, but Dalzen was the first to say something.

"You okay?" he asked.

Taylor looked at him.

"Yeah, I'm fine Dalzen," she lied, looking back.

He looked at her seriously.

"Are you lying to me?" he asked. "C'mon, something's up and I can tell."

Taylor gave no response. Instead, she pulled her knees to her chest and hugged them.

"Tell me...what's wrong?" Dalzen suggested. Well, he wasn't giving her the choice of telling him or not really. If he had to be the one to finally force it out of her, then so be it! He could be a lot scarier than Kakashi or Sakumo. Luckily, Taylor only knows his nice side...and she'd rather not know his much crueler side. Although, he knew she would never piss him off that bad. She was too nice, unless she's near Daiichi and Yuri then that's a different story.

She still gave no response because she knew that she would start crying. She was doing everything in her power to _not_ start crying and she wasn't about to show it to Dalzen.

"You know, Sakumo and Kakashi are deeply concerned about you. Not telling them what's wrong with you worries them more than whatever is actually bothering you," Dalzen told her.

Finally, she gave a response.

"I didn't want to worry them," she choked out, starting to tremble. "But I at the same time...I want to tell them...but I can't bring myself to do so..."

"Tell them what? Hey, you can tell me," Dalzen assured. _Saru would be so proud of me..._

Taylor buried her face in her knees and started crying.

"What's wrong?" At the risk of sounding like Saru-Shin, Dalzen threatened to keep pressing her. "I'll keep pressing you if I have to."

After a few moments she brought herself to tell him. Once she finished, Dalzen had no clue how to respond. Damnit, he wasn't a counselor, nor was he a psychiatrist, but he listened to Taylor telling him what was going on the past 3 1/2 years.

"D-Do you want me to go get your father and your grandfather so you can tell them?" he asked after a few minutes of thinking. "Because I can and that might be a good idea. I'm...no good in this situation..."

Taylor didn't say anything.

"I'm gonna get your father and your grandfather. Is that okay?"

Taylor shrugged her shoulders as if she was saying, "I don't care."

"Alright," Dalzen stood up and went inside. Moments later, he returned with Sakumo and Kakashi, both anxious to hear.

Kakashi and Sakumo sat on either side of her and Dalzen crouched in front of them. (The steps were too small to fit a fourth person. Technically, Kakashi and Sakumo were behind Taylor.)

"Want to tell us what's wrong?" Sakumo asked.

Taylor swallowed hard, trying to speak through her tears.

"I've been..." she put her hand on her head. "J-Just...s-scared..."

"Scared? About what, sweetheart?" Kakashi asked.

Taylor sniffled and trembled a bit more.

"What? Please tell us!" Sakumo pleaded.

"Tell them what you told me," Dalzen ordered Taylor in a soft voice. _I'm no counselor but I want her to get her feelings out to her folks so they aren't so worried anymore. Shit, Sakumo being worried as much as he is worries me,_ he thought. _I would want Sakumo to do the same if I couldn't get Teal or Hoshi to tell me what was on their minds._

"That...it could happen again to me, but this time I can't get back home," Taylor started crying again. "Damnit," she cursed under her breath at herself.

"What could happen?" Sakumo asked.

"Going into the past?" Kakashi asked.

Taylor nodded.

"The whole situation still lingers," she choked out, cursing herself again for crying. "It's followed me into my dreams, which is the main cause of my night-terrors...and...I have troubles getting to sleep most of the time because of that..."

She rubbed her eyes with the palm of her hand in frustration with herself for not telling Kakashi or Sakumo. It was a surprise unto itself how she's managed to keep it to herself for so long, and Kakashi and Sakumo mused about it in their minds for a moment. _You are stubborn_, were the words that formed in their minds but no one had the balls to say out loud. Wrong time to say it, that's for sure.

"I didn't mean to worry you guys," she continued. "I'm sorry I didn't tell y'all sooner..."

"Taylor, not telling us worries us more than what you have to say," Sakumo told her, not realizing Dalzen had said that earlier.

"And yeah, you really should have told us sooner," Kakashi added, putting his hand on her back and he started rubbing her back gently. "But...thank you for finally telling us," he looked down at Dalzen. "And thanks Dalzen, for actually getting her to say something."

The dark-haired man smiled a bit.

"It's nothing. I wanted to know what was going on myself so I thought I'd try," he admitted.

Taylor nodded and Kakashi put his arms around her and allowed her to cry. She probably needed it. Dalzen stood up and went up the stairs to allow her to cry in peace with her _otousan _and _ojiisan_. He went inside and went to the bathroom to wash his face with hot water. Silently, he splashed the hot water on his face and dried it off with a towel. Then, he looked at himself in the mirror. _I wonder why Taylor was actually willing to tell me what was wrong with her,_ he wondered. _Did she finally realize she needed to get it off her chest before her anxiety got any worse? Did she want me to know as well as her folks, or did she tell me with the hopes I would tell them myself? Or did I actually manage to press her into telling someone?_

Heck if he knew. Taylor was a private person, so who knows why she actually told him first. Taylor probably didn't even know why she did. He didn't know Taylor all that well, so there were probably many factors involved with the reason why she did it, but Dalzen was too tired to think about it. Without a word, he turned off the lights and walked back out and went to go lay on the couch. At about the same time, Kakashi and Sakumo were bringing Taylor inside and Kakashi went over to the cabinets and pulled out a stick of dango, one of Taylor's favorite snacks, and he gave it to her in hopes she would calm down.

"Here," he smiled softly, handing the stick to her. "Calm down some while Grandpa and I talk, okay?"

"Yes Daddy," she obediently took the dango from Kakashi and started eating the dango. Sighing, both men walked out of the kitchen but they stayed where they could see Taylor. They lowered their voices.

"So now we have two problems," Sakumo said. "Trying to fix Taylor AND finding a way for Dalzen to go back to his time."

"Sounds fun," Kakashi grumbled. "Yeah, I think fixing Taylor will be so much easier."

"Part of me says you're right. The other says that we'll get Dalzen back before we fix Taylor," Sakumo admitted. "She's so messed up right now, I'm not sure which one we'll fix first."

"That's pretty sad!" Kakashi laughed.

"Yeah it is," Sakumo chuckled.

"I heard that," Taylor grumbled.

Kakashi spun around.

"Hey! I told you to calm down," he reminded.

"Sorry," she grumbled, eating a little more of her candy.

"Good," Kakashi smiled. "Now, when you are calm, I want you to go to bed because that's what you obviously need —rest. Alright?"

"Yes Daddy."

She finally calmed down and went to bed. Soon, Kakashi, Dalzen and Sakumo all followed suit, crawling into their own beds.

.

Taylor got up early the next morning and she slipped into uniform just as she remembered she had two more letters to write. Sighing, she sat down at her desk and wrote the last two quickly. Then, she summoned Michiko and sent her off with one of the letters. When the little barn owl left, Taylor grabbed the black katana and went out past the fields to train. In the process, she woke up Dalzen but as soon as the back door closed, he fell back asleep until he was woken up again half an hour later when she came inside for water.

Dalzen laid still on the couch, trying to make sure Taylor didn't know that she woke him up. She opened the water bottle and drank about a third of it in just under a minute. When she finished drinking the one-third, she pulled the bottle away from her mouth and swallowed, releasing a content sigh and wiping her mouth with the back of her wrist. "Mmm.."

After a moment, she walked back outside and kept training. Dalzen sat up. _What the heck is she doing up so early?_ he wondered. He rose to his feet and silently made his way to the back door and he went out. Dalzen stepped on the porch and looked around for Taylor. _Where is_ _she_?

It didn't take long for him to find the answer. Taylor was running around on the fence, chasing around what appeared to be a clone of herself. _What are you doing?_

The clone jumped down on the outside of the fence and Taylor jumped onto her back. Without a word, she took her katana and with one swipe, she sliced the clone in half, which made it dissipate into a cloud of dust. Taylor fell to the ground in a crouch. After a minute, another clone came out from the wheat and attacked her. Taylor jumped up and dodged her clone's attack. Another came out of a tree and went at Taylor. The real Taylor grabbed her clone's wrist and slung her into the other one and both clones dissipated. _Oh...she's training_, Dalzen realized.

After that last move, Taylor had defeated all of her clones.

"Oh!" Taylor let out a relieved sigh. "Finally, I'm done."

Dalzen had never quite seen her in action. The battle where she nearly died and their tiny little spar paled in comparison to what she was currently doing. She seemed so much stronger than she was when he had last seen her. Much quicker too. He stared at her in astonishment, but then his astonishment faded into a sad frown and he looked down. _She's so much stronger than I am..._ he remarked mentally. _I could never consider defeating her in a battle...That was...That's proof I wouldn't be able to defeat her... _He rubbed his eyes in irritation. _I've never felt so upset like this before. I hope it doesn't continue... I don't want to show any sort of weakness._

Dalzen went back inside before she caught him. _She sometimes bears a scary resemblance to Saru,_ he realized. _She really does. I wonder how Coushander felt when he realized she reminded him of Saru._ Sighing, he laid back down on the couch and tried to go back to sleep.

.

"Dalzen," Taylor poked his arm. "Dalzen wake up."

Dalzen opened his eyes.

"Huh?" his weary gaze fell upon Taylor, who was crouched beside him, smiling.

"Wake up," she said. "You've got your jounin exam today."

Dalzen sat up quickly.

"What?"

"You have your jounin exam in an hour and a half. You're gonna want to eat, you're gonna be doing a lot of thinking and fighting...Ah, exactly what I had when I was taking my jounin exams. I'm lucky I even passed," she smiled.

Dalzen watched as Taylor stood up and it took a moment for him to realize what she was hinting at towards the end.

"Wait! You're a —"

"A Jounin?" Taylor grinned. "Yes indeed!"

"Since when?"

"Since just a bit before I was fourteen," Taylor responded.

The last time he saw her before this, she was a chuunin. Now she's a jounin?! Geez, a lot can really happen in 3 1/2 years!

"Don't think that when I'm depressed I still can't be an awesome shinobi, Dalzen," Taylor grinned. "Actually, when I'm working on missions, I forget my troubles. I focus on my tasks and I just forget."

The dark-haired man shook his head.

"I was never suggesting that," he responded.

A wry chuckle rose in this throat.

"I was just...slightly surprised," he worded carefully. "I haven't seen you since...since that day. Y-You've grown, obviously, but definitely not physically because you're still the same height," he teased her at the end.

"Shuddup," Taylor grumbled. "I resent that."

He tried not to grin at her.

"But...on a serious note, congrats. I know you are a great Jounin," Dalzen finished with a smile for the sweet girl.

"Th-Thanks..." Taylor pulled Dalzen to his feet. "Go eat. Breakfast is done."

Dalzen stood up and went into the kitchen while Taylor dashed off to get her dad.

.

She escorted Dalzen to Tsunade so he could take the exam. Taylor was in her full uniform; a short-sleeved indigo turtleneck underneath the standard Konoha Jounin vest and a pair of indigo pants and wrappings around her ankles and her right thigh. Taylor alternated between the standard Konoha vest and the much simpler vest that was similar to what Dalzen wore.

That was basically her Jounin uniform.

Taylor still felt very short, considering she hasn't grown much since they last met. At one point, she even folded her arms and frowned at the ground as she mused about how little she's grown. She still has the climb the counters just to get to the bowls, which were more in her dad and grandfather's reach.

"What are you glaring at the ground for?" the dark-haired man wondered.

"Oh uhmm...no particular reason," Taylor shrugged. "J-Just thinking about how_ little_ I've grown."

"Oh." Dalzen nodded. "You definitely are still pretty short."

"I'm the same exact height I was when you last saw me," Taylor grumbled. "157 centimeters."

"157 centimeters still," Dalzen remarked. "And you're 16?"

"Yeah.." Taylor sighed.

"Maybe you're stuck like that then. I mean, you're a girl and most girls aren't that tall to begin with. Although, Kano is pretty tall. But you're not related to her by blood... You might also be short because remember Saru-Shin? Remember how short he was?"

"Yeah."

"It's prolly in your genetics to be short," Dalzen shrugged his shoulders, then looked at Taylor, still glaring at the ground. "At least you're not 195 centimeters like I am," he added. "Knowing your luck you'd be covered in bruises and I'd be surprised if you didn't have a concussion from hitting your head every time you went into a room. I mean...I've seen you trip over your own feet and bang your knee on your desk trying to get either in or out of your seat."

"It doesn't take much for me to hurt myself," Taylor muttered.

"And you'd be a lot worse if you were my height," Dalzen teased.

"I know," Taylor said. "I would be happy if I was 170 centimeters. Not too tall and not too short," she grinned.

"Hm..." Dalzen nodded.

They got to the testing site and were greeted by Tsunade.

"Ah, good morning Dalzen and Taylor," she greeted.

"Morning," they both responded.

"Read for the Jounin exam, Dalzen?"

"Yes ma'am, I'm as ready as I'll ever be."

Taylor and Dalzen turned to each other and nodded.

"Good luck, Dalzen-Sensei," Taylor grinned.

"...Thank you, Taylor-San," he replied.

Taylor gave him a thumbs up and allowed Tsunade to take Dalzen away.

.

Once he started his exam, he immediately knew what Taylor was talking about when she say there were some stupid questions like, _what is your rank_?

_Gee, I don't know. Gennin_? Dalzen rolled his eyes. _I am a Jounin_, he wrote down, being serious this time.

It took him a little over an hour to do the exam.

.

He opened the door and saw Taylor leaning against the wall, reading a book with the title of, _Natsume's Book of Friends. _Silently, she flipped the page and mouthed the words on the next page to herself.

"Taylor."

She looked up and snapped the book closed.

"Done?"

"Yeah. Tsunade said for us to head to the...arena?"

She slid her book into her weapons' pouch and stood straight.

"Yep. And you're my opponent," she smiled. "C'mon."

"Right..." Dalzen followed her back, then looked at her. "You're my opponent?!"

"Yeah," Taylor grinned. "You get to fight me."

Dalzen was more than bewildered, and also concerned for himself. He'd already seen half of what Taylor could do, but he didn't have the full picture. What if she can do a lot more than what he saw? She would defeat him and he wouldn't be able to become a jounin. He would be a..._chuunin! _Or worse...a_ genin!_ he shuddered. _I am not going to be demoted to a chuunin or a genin!_ He buried his face in his hands, _But Taylor is so much stronger than me. I bet she can elude my genjutsu. Oh...what do I do?_

He frowned. _I'm not going to let a sixteen-year-old girl beat the hell out of me. She did it once before and that was enough... _He shook his head. _What am I thinking? Of course she's going to beat the hell outta me! The Hokage probably won't let her go easy on me even if she wanted to. Oh...I'm so screwed..._

"Dalzen? Are...you okay?" Taylor wondered.

"Oh me? I-I'm fine..." Dalzen shook his head at himself, _Shit, I've never felt so concerned for myself and my own safety before._

"You sure?" Taylor wondered.

Dalzen folded his arms nervously.

"Yes...I'm fine..."

"You're scared, aren't you," she taunted. "You're scared to go up against me."

"N-No, that's not the case," Dalzen looked away and he was not about to admit he's scared. That's the last thing Dalzen would ever do, or is it?

"Alright...if you say so...Lost your chance to back out," she took him into the arena and they waited for Tsunade. Soon, she appeared before them with a grin on her face.

"So, are we ready for the second part of the jounin exam?"

Dalzen exhaled heavily, wanting to back out because this is Taylor we're talking about. She would kick Dalzen's ass with one shot if she wanted, but Taylor didn't want to do that. She wanted to play with him, much like how a cat plays with the mouse. His dark eyes peeked down at the ground, then reluctantly looked back up at the lady hokage.

"Yeah," Dalzen lied. "I'm ready...as ready as I'll ever be."

"I sure am," Taylor grinned.

"Alright, no time limit," the hokage smiled. "And no going too terribly hard on Dalzen, he's from an entirely different time."

"I know, I was there," Taylor grinned.

Thankfully, Dalzen looked up. Taylor wasn't allowed to go hard on him, that's good. He _might_ just stand a chance then..._might._

"Alright, get started. I will keep watch over you guys," Tsunade grinned and went somewhere safe so she wouldn't get hit by Taylor or Dalzen.

Then, they were alone and Dalzen swallowed hard. Never in his life had he ever felt so nervous before a battle. Then again, in his time he was much stronger than everyone else. There were probably stronger shinobi than him, but for the most part he's strong. But he's in the future — nearly 50 years into the future. The shinobi of this time were much stronger than he was and Taylor was related to Saru-Shin and Sakumo. A lot of her strength comes from being a Hatake, at least that's what she thought.

Taylor and Dalzen faced each other.

"_San...Ni...Ichi_," Taylor counted down and they went at it.

Taylor was more of a physical kind of person rather than mental. She'd rather use her chakra and her fists than use her mind to make a genjutsu. At least, that's how she was. Dalzen on the other hand, did mainly genjutsu. He could use substitution and earth techniques and perhaps a bit of taijutsu, but it was mainly genjutsu. But with Taylor, how was he going to trap her in a genjutsu when she's avoiding eye-contact and aiming for his pressure points? He stopped Taylor's fist from hitting him and he pushed her back.

He had to think, and quickly. What could he do that would be good for fighting her?

Taylor came at Dalzen when he wasn't paying attention and she punched him right in the gut. Surprised, Dalzen looked at her and grabbed her hand and flung her in the other direction. _Damn she's sneaky,_ he thought bitterly. Unconsciously, he started stepping backwards._ How do I fight her?! I'm no match for Taylor!_ He backed in right into a wall and he just stayed there, looking at Taylor with dismay. _I'm not going to be able to defeat her... she's so much stronger than I am..._

Without even thinking, Taylor attacked Dalzen again, and he held up his arms in defense. Taylor hit his arm with almost enough force to break it, but he was lucky it don't fracture. Dalzen winced and took out a kunai and defended himself as best as he could. Taylor came at him with her kunai. _Oh shit! You're a lunatic!_ he nearly exclaimed out loud. Taylor's kunai sliced at Dalzen's arm and he didn't even flinch since it was a minor pain and he barely noticed it.

That went on for thirty minutes before Dalzen was definitely done and he just about lost it. Dalzen was covered in scrapes, cuts, and possibly a couple of bruises from his tripping over his own feet...twice. There was definitely something wrong if Dalzen was tripping over his feet, yet Taylor didn't even think about it.

Taylor stood, trying to catch her breath while Dalzen stood with his back against a wall. He hung his head down in sadness and then he fell to his knees. It was just a matter of time before he would start crying, and it took Taylor a bit of time to realize that he was crying. She looked around, slowing her breathing so she could listen to the faint sound. _What is that sound? It's like...a guy is crying..._ She looked in front of her and saw Dalzen sitting on the floor, hiding his face away so no one could see him and he tried to be quiet about his crying so no one could hear. He tried to make himself appear as if he's just trying to regain his breath and just resting, but the sounds coming from him were definitely not panting. Taylor gasped, knowing full well that he was crying. She's done enough of that herself, so she knows exactly how it sounds. But...Dalzen? Dalzen, out of all people, is crying. The last person _anyone_ would have thought to start crying at all.

"Dalzen?" she wondered. She pulled a move Dalzen taught her because she was starting to think that this was a genjutsu. Dalzen would _never_ cry. It had to be a genjutsu! "Kai...—release!"

Nothing happened. She was indeed watching Dalzen crying, no illusion here.

_I'm so weak, _he thought. _I can't do anything to defend myself... I can't even use what I'm comfortable with to attack her._

"D-Dalzen?" Taylor crouched down beside him. "Are you okay?"

He shook his head and then looked up, rubbing his eyes roughly but around his eyes were a bit red, which is a definite sign he's been crying.

"You're crying," Taylor remarked. "Dalzen...What's gotten into you? You never cry..."

He shook his head wearily.

"I had something in my eyes," he grumbled. "I wasn't crying."

"Dalzen," Taylor started. "I can tell you were crying."

He grunted.

"I don't know. Maybe I did cry a little..."

"What's wrong?" Taylor asked.

"It's nothing," Dalzen grumbled.

"You sure?" Taylor wondered. "You were crying. There has to be something that pushed you to cry."

"It's stupid," Dalzen stood up.

Taylor thought for a moment.

"You're just upset that I am much stronger than you," Taylor realized. "That's it, isn't it?"

Dalzen shook his head.

"Yes it is," Taylor grinned. "Dalzen, I wasn't going all that hard on you. I know most people today are prolly stronger than you are so I wanted to go as easy on you as I possibly can."

"But you can't, can you?" Dalzen rolled his eyes and started walking away. "Don't bother, Taylor. You can't make yourself go down to my level."

"What about genjutsu?" Taylor wondered. "I still know how to use genjutsu. I didn't stop practicing it, mainly because I wanted to be able to do it like you. Dalzen, I practice genjutsu whenever I am up to it but I know for a fact that I will never be as good at it as you are.

Dalzen stopped and turned around to look at her.

"You...do?"

Taylor gave him a sweet, assuring smile and hugged his arm quickly, "Of course. If you want me to, I will use genjutsu. We're not enemies, so you can ask me to do something other than what I usually do. I want you to be a jounin in this time, Dalzen. If you can't beat me when I'm doing taijutsu and ninjutsu, just ask me to do genjutsu and I will do it. No need to get upset at yourself for something that you can't fully control."

Dalzen folded his arms, looking down, but he nodded.

"Of...course..." he grumbled. "I'm sorry...I am...I guess, confused is the best way to describe how I feel."

"I know how you feel," Taylor smiled and hugged him. "Don't cry," she told him. "You're not allowed to cry. It's weird coming from you."

Dalzen chuckled a bit, "I suppose it is a little odd coming from me. You've only known me to not cry...I've never cried before."

"Well, you cried as a baby," Taylor said. "Everyone has cried, just when they were infants."

"That doesn't count," Dalzen reminded her.

Taylor hugged Dalzen tightly and then let go.

"Come on, let's finish this off. I'm not letting you give up and if I have to, I will let you win," she grinned.

"Alright, fine," Dalzen said. "Let's continue this."

.

It didn't even take twenty minutes for Dalzen to defeat Taylor. Taylor tried to put Dalzen into a genjutsu and he reflected it back at her and exited quietly. The genjutsu took a bit from Taylor, and she was pretty much done for at the end. Taylor still wasn't all that good at genjutsu, which made Dalzen feel a bit better. He could defeat her, it just took the right techniques on both of their parts to allow it to happen. Once they were done, Taylor took Dalzen out for lunch (since she knew Sakumo and Kakashi already had their lunch while Dalzen was testing). The only place Taylor could think about taking him at this time of day was Ichiraku's.

"Up for some ramen?" she asked Dalzen.

"Heck, why not?" he nodded.

Together, they headed into Ichiraku's and ordered ramen and ate silently. Dalzen still was embarrassed that he even cried and Taylor taunted him for it. But, he couldn't get mad at Taylor. He taunted her for being as short as she was and she was a sweet kid. Why would he get mad at her for trying to cheer him up? Who knows. All he knew was that he was grateful that Taylor let him beat her in the fight and that she bought them lunch.

"You didn't tell me about the questions on the test..." Dalzen told Taylor, pulling out some ramen noodles from his bowl with his chopsticks and then eating them.

"Huh?" she looked at him. "What do you mean?"

"The..._algebraic _equations on the test. And the other really stupid ones..." he explained. "What is your rank? Oh gee, I don't know...gennin?"

"Oh..._those_," Taylor scratched the back of her head nervously. "Tsunade only puts those on the test to keep you on your toes...I don't know why she even bothers with math...not like a lot of shinobi are mathematicians because there aren't many..."

Dalzen nodded.

"Yeah, I guess to keep me on my toes is a good reason to stick a few _algebraic_ equations on there," he grumbled. "I'm lucky I figured out how to solve for 'y'."

Taylor giggled and nodded.

"That's good I guess."

.

.


	4. Beyond The Stream of Time

**A/N: **I do not take credit for the scene with the elder Morino and his grandson (and well, the part when he first entered Intel ):D Kariko wrote that scene for me (and I'm glad she did because when she mentioned that she wanted to do something with Ibiki and Dalzen, I knew that was something that she was gonna write for me to include c: I'm sure she was gonna do it anyway, even if I didn't mention a collab with her. :3 ) and so I incorporated it. :D Thanks! Lol Dalzen being terrified of conversation and I laughed when Ibiki pulled out the handcuffs. Dalzen: "...Oh..." *sweat drop* That was funny :D

* * *

Into_ The Future_

.

.

Chapter Four  
**_Beyond The Stream of Time_**

.

About a week passed before Dalzen got any word as to if he was still a Jounin.

The test was stupid, but he understood Tsunade wanting him to do it. It was security reasons, and that was an acceptable reason according to Dalzen.

The fifth hokage summoned him and Taylor didn't come with him when he went out this time, since she wasn't feeling too well (for reasons best left unknown to the male Morino. All Taylor said was, "No one here would understand it" and that was just enough for him.) and also because he felt better about going by himself around the futuristic Konoha. Still uncomfortable, since he was trying to avoid seeing Teal and Hoshi, his children. He wasn't sure if he could mess up the future with that, despite Taylor telling him that he can't screw up the future like this. You can only screw up in the past, and with those came major consequences that were luckily undiscovered...

When he got there, Tsunade confirmed that he's still a Jounin. Then, he thought he'd ask about Intel.

"I was getting there," Tsunade smiled, opening a drawer and pulling out a slip. Then, she picked up her pen and signed it.

"You start tomorrow," she promised, handing it to him.

Dalzen took it and nodded.

"Alright...thank you," he bowed.

Tsunade gave a small smile, "It's nothing, Dalzen."

He then returned to the Hatake house and heard Taylor in her room.

A messenger bird scraped at her window and Taylor rolled over to face the window. She sat up tiredly and looked. The bird scratched the window again.

"Oh..."

She unlocked her window and opened it and took the letter gently.

"Thank you," she bowed her head.

The bird nodded and flew off and Taylor closed the window. She opened the scroll, sent by the Raikage himself.

Basically, it read as, "Dear Taylor Hatake, I'm sorry to say that we don't have such a scroll as you described in our archives. Please give your friend our regards, though. Sincerely, the Raikage."

Taylor looked down.

"Damn it..." she sat the scroll on her desk. "Well...three other kage to go..."

She stood up and stretched her arms behind her head and sighed.

"Uhg, stupid cramps," she muttered, hugging her sides.

Sighing, she looked at the Nyanko-Sensei, her plush doll, sitting on top of her desk and picked him up.

"_Ikayaki ga na, ikayaki wonchu_," she quoted the cat in the manga series that she reads.

Sensei technically wasn't a cat. Rather, he was a mighty fierce yet graceful and elegant yokai. But then, he was sealed in a lucky cat container for so long that his body was used to the cat form. Taylor smiled. He's such a cutie. She never understood why some of the characters thought he was ugly because he was the opposite of that. She hugged him and sat him back down on her desk.

Dalzen peeked into Taylor's room and saw Taylor standing at her desk, thinking about something. He wondered what she was thinking about as he watched her grab something from her basket.

Taylor pulled out a small box of ocean-scented incense and lit it with just her chakra. It lit up and Taylor let it burn for about three seconds before she put it out. Then, she stuck it in its holder and went to walk to her door. Dalzen went back to the living room before she could see him.

.

The next morning, Dalzen got up and had breakfast with Sakumo and Kakashi while Taylor rested. After breakfast, he got into uniform.

"Going to Intel?" Sakumo asked.

Dalzen nodded.

"Yeah."

"Alright," Sakumo nodded. "Good luck, Sensei. You're gonna need it."

Dalzen nodded.

"Thank you, Sakumo," he bowed and went out to the village.

.

The tall dark haired man had to ask a passer-by if this was indeed an entrance to the Intel ward. It was. So Dalzen passed through the wide, double doors and about fifty years worth of upgrades.

The place had it's own map, just like the ones he used to draw within these walls whenever he returned from a long mission in a place nobody could pronounce. He'd probably be drawing maps again after the Suna mission was complete in his time. The tall man looked down at all the color-coated lines near his feet and smiled faintly. At least they'd learned some organizational skills in the future.

Dalzen's attention was then diverted above him—cameras (or what looked to be) were perched in the corners, flashing blue lights just like an odd panel on his right, waist high on the wall. And as soon as Dalzen moved past it, a very loud buzzer went off.

Well, that was new!

More lights began flashing crimson red and several chuunin came rushing around the corner, "Halt!" Dalzen raised his hands at once, recognizing a new security feature he'd just toppled. (Wouldn't Saru-Shin be proud.) Then one long blonde-haired man parted the chuunin down the center and gasped—"Y-You're…!"

The blonde-haired man, a jounin, looked at the Morino for a moment and then proceeded to the panel to power off the alarm. "I was warned—I mean told of your arrival," the man announced with a small smile. "Do you have a card with you?"

Dalzen thought—"Oh you mean this?"

Yamanaka Inoichi took the small card and showed it to the panel. Dalzen whistled just for Takato's sake as the card awakened a calm blue glow back upon the screen. Inoichi gave it back, "This man has clearance here. You can go," he told the chuunin. "I'll lead him from here."

"…I'm sorry to cause a scene," Dalzen apologized as they began walking, feeling eyes on him not just from the cameras. "But I had no idea what I was supposed to do with that thing…"

"It's all right," Inoichi grinned, "You wouldn't, would you? Things have changed," he agreed, "Even from when I started on," He shrugged his hands in his pockets. "I was briefed by Lady Tsunade about your…arrival. I'm very glad you can work here for the day. But…I also hope you will be able to return soon…to the past," he added in a whisper.

"Believe me, I'd like that more than anything," Dalzen sighed.

"Know that our services are open to you—anything at all. And forgive me for sounding just like an Academy student, but I'm very honored you're here."

"Oh…"

The Intel ward, even in it's current state of glass and hi-tech gadgets provoked little enthusiasm in Dalzen's heart unlike it did the jounin beside him. "…Thank you," Dalzen mumbled.

"I've got a case for you," Inoichi picked up, "If you should like to visit him,"

Dalzen nodded in agreement. "I'll do my best."

"Oh, and…" The blonde man added reluctantly, "If you need to scan him, you…don't have to do it alone."

Dalzen looked at him curiously, "…Really?" Every scan he'd ever done he'd done unaided, simply because there were very few others who could do one. Perhaps in this frame of time, that was not the case. Inoichi changed the subject quickly after that, in a low voice, "Well! I heard you are staying with your former student!"

"…Yes. And his family," Dalzen nodded, smiling faintly. "Though I think Taylor is the only one who really understands my predicament at the moment," he added. "Seeing everything so changed is _not_ an easy thing." Dalzen's gaze soon fell, dwelling over the girl's troubles, and his own fears and insecurities in this frame of time. The youngest Hatake easily had power like Saru-Shin, and no doubt, she was even stronger now. In fact, all of the shinobi of this time seemed more powerful. If he had to fight his way home, would his talent really be enough…?

Inoichi nodded to the dark-haired man's comment, leading him to the destination, "True. We weren't really meant to be in situations like this."

Dalzen nodded, entering into a long grey hall, full of cell blocks.

Now _that_ was a familiar sight.

.

Taylor got out of her room around ten in the morning and saw Kakashi in his chair, reading silently.

"Mornin'," she greeted tiredly.

"Morning, sweetheart," Kakashi smiled.

Taylor rubbed the sleep from her eyes and looked around with those ice-blue eyes.

"...Where's Dalzen?" she wondered, then looking at Kakashi.

"He's at Intel," her father replied.

"Oh..."

She walked towards the kitchen.

"Do we have enough stuff to make a bento box?"

Kakashi thought for a moment.

"Yeah, we do. Why?" he looked at his daughter.

"I was thinking about making a bento box for Dalzen," Taylor admitted.

"Isn't that a little weird?"

"I make you and Grandpa bento boxes, don't I?"

"Okay, you got me there," Kakashi chuckled.

Taylor grinned.

"So you're feeling better now?"

"Yes Daddy."

Taylor pulled out two bento boxes and started making her bento box and Dalzen's.

"That's good," Kakashi smiled.

Taylor silently worked on four onigiri balls; two went in one box and two in the other. She added pickled _ume_ in all four onigiri balls and she stuck two squarely-cut _nori_ onto each rice ball. Then, she placed two in each box. Then, she added leftover breaded and baked chicken strips into the boxes and separated them from the fruits she added in. The last thing needed was more rice. She used the last compartment of the bento to stick in and smooth out the rice and then she focused on making edible art by creating a face for each box. Taylor made Dalzen's face for his bento and Taylor made her own for her bento. After she was done with the bento boxes, she slipped in chopsticks and closed each box. Then, she left them in the fridge and took a shower.

.

Not many things surprised Morino Ibiki. But when security camera tape gets deleted, and there's a few hushed whispers of possibly a ghost at the ward, the tall man won't rest until he's aware of what's going on.

And normally, he doesn't tend to ask leading questions unless he already knows the answers, but that's what curiosity can do for you. There was never a Morino born without that trait. And as far as he knew, there were none who haunted halls.

Conveniently, Yamanaka had just left for the day, leaving behind a disorganized mop of chuunin without a brain. Aside from their clipboards full of boring statistics, they never knew many answers. So, Ibiki avoided them. All until Ibiki saw a rather tall one with black hair…leaving the interrogations unit.

This was Ibiki's ground.

So he shouted after the man indignantly and demanded some proof of clearance, racing up only to find a ghost turning his head. "…Oh, you mean this?" Dalzen said, withdrawing that dumb little card he was given earlier. "I'm sorry," he continued automatically, "Did I forget to swipe it on something?" Dalzen began looking around for some hidden panel on the wall, but he couldn't really find one.

"Kai—release," Ibiki muttered quickly, but this wasn't a genjutsu. (And yes, that is a Morino thing.)

"…I'm sorry," Dalzen said again. He wasn't sure how you could apologize for getting caught in a time jutsu, but he was going to try, "Don't arrest me—I'm just…out of place. Really out time, more like it," he reached into another pocket, pulling out a slip signed by the fifth hokage. "Here's…more clearance," he worded awkwardly. "Hopefully…I won't be here long."

Ibiki was silent.

Dalzen, in any frame of time, wasn't much for small talk, but he tried it anyway, "The upgrades look nice," he commented, even though so far, they were pretty annoying. "The security features are very…advanced." The past must have seemed like an open door to the youngest Hatake. Then again, she hadn't been able to spend much time in the village, from fear of messing things up. She might've gone in once or thrice, but no more than that.

Morino Ibiki finally made a move. He pulled out another new security feature. Hand cuffs. He simply held them up in front of his grandfather and Dalzen got the idea. "…Oh."

Ibiki led his grandfather to a small room around the corner and down a narrow hall. "Must be new," Dalzen mumbled to himself, admiring the sparse décor. There were two chairs in the interrogation room. Ibiki took one, Dalzen took the other, and Dalzen wondered aloud, "Is this going to take long?" He wasn't aware if the flippant comment would land him in even more hot water, but he didn't really mind at the moment. Worst come to worst, he could foresee the Hatake troupe blasting through these walls to bail him out, Taylor and Sakumo leading the charge.

"…It will take as long as I wish," Ibiki muttered, studying his grandfather. Dalzen did likewise, praying internally this was not, somehow, one of his progeny. Granted, screwing up the past was a lot more serious than screwing up the future…right?

Ibiki leaned forward—an imposing posture…much like Dalzen could manage. "Did anyone see you?" the scarred face asked.

Dalzen blinked in disbelief. "You believe me? Well—there was this nice Yamanaka fellow—"

"I knew it! That _idiot!"_ Ibiki cursed.

"You know…" Dalzen stopped.

Ibiki finished the sentence, "…We shouldn't be meeting like this?"

Dalzen's skin pricked. No interrogation he'd ever endured compared to this. Because this wasn't exactly an interrogation…Dalzen finally worked up the courage to ask, "Who are you?" It was a leading question, and the Morino could feel the answer.

"Your grandson…" the scarred face finally lifted from the shadows of a frown and smiled.

Dalzen blinked and blinked again. "Oh…my…" was all he could really say. He was speechless. The men shared the same dark eyes, the same height—Dalzen saw much of his own father in Ibiki's face and features. The uniforms and scars differed, but they shared the same blood.

Ibiki grinned. "I tried to learn all I could about you, but—" he stopped.

"…You know," Dalzen filled in with an odd smile blooming on his face, "I've never really been afraid of a conversation before until this one." He remembered Taylor accidentally meeting her own grandfather as an eight-year-old child. Dalzen finally understood all the pains she must have went through trying not to change the timeline. Conversation was a risky thing, but the young man seemed up for the challenge, "When did you first learn genjutsu?" he asked excitedly, "Did anyone teach you?"

"Well…" There couldn't be any harm in answering _that,_ now could there? "I…um…came from…"

"Yes, I know you came from county fourteen. You would have seen ninja on a regular basis having lived under martial law. And you could have sided with the land of wind, yet you didn't. You left that region to join Shodaime. I think that's brave."

Dalzen frowned. "Perhaps…" he admitted, "But it was the obvious choice. With a family of martyrs…" the elder Morino shook his head, "The land of wind was corrupt. Even now—er, then, I have to be careful where I go."

"…So, _how_ did you learn genjutsu?" Ibiki smiled.

Dalzen gave in. (Grandchildren can make you do that.) The elder Morino smiled. "Your great-grandparents fought for freedom—and freedom of choice. But their beliefs came with consequences. I was exposed to strife constantly at a young age. That made me distrustful, and it made me a realist. Before my parents were arrested, I met with my first genjutsu from Suna forces in the town square. I tried all the things civilians do to escape it, but that only made it worse. I didn't understand that it wasn't real. Then I remembered I focused quite hard—changing something called chakra, and from then on, I recognized and broke every genjutsu I saw."

"Amazing…!"

Dalzen shrugged.

A question was bugging the elder, and he wasn't sure if he could ask it. Dalzen cleared his throat uneasily. Surely it wouldn't _change _anything…"A-Are you…Teal's, or Hoshi's…?"

"…Teal." Ibiki answered. "I am Teal's son."

"…Right. And I swear that's all I'll ask. I just hope I don't run into either of them while I'm here in the future. I'm terrified if I mess something up, or if I…"

"…That won't be a problem," Ibiki replied calmly. "My aunt is on a mission out east, and Teal—"

Dalzen looked expectant when the younger man stopped talking so suddenly.

"My father…doesn't come here," he finished awkwardly.

"Oh, well, that's fine…" Dalzen shrugged.

"Seeing you…would be a little too much for him," Ibiki mused. "I wouldn't recommend it." He glanced up quickly and then made his peace on the wall, "I'm sorry for saying that. I probably shouldn't have."

Dalzen nodded, frowning upon the floor. "I'll admit, I was never there much for my family—especially with the war and all, so I am sorry—"

"It's not that."

"…Not that?"

Ibiki shook his head. "…Have you seen Sakumo-san?" he asked. "How's he taking your return?"

"Well…" Dalzen answered slowly, "We were able to meet in the past, briefly, when Taylor Hatake suffered the effects of this jutsu, but…" Dalzen's uneasiness grew. Ibiki's choice of words, '_How's he_ taking_ your return?_' bothered him. "Did…something happen? Please don't say 'what'," Dalzen added carefully.

But Ibiki couldn't answer directly. "Well—I am so very happy to have_ met_ you, ojiisan." Ibiki stood, a small smile returning to his face.

Dalzen smiled too, understanding the young man's choice of words to mean they had not been able to meet until now. That would have to be enough. "I am glad to meet you as well," he said. "And—I am sorry."

"Don't be. Just…live in the moment," he offered. "It's what I've finally learned to do."

"Sound advice," Dalzen smiled.

.

Taylor got out of the shower and got dressed into her uniform and then she grabbed her wallet so she had her Intel card on her. She shoved the wallet into her pocket and went out to the kitchen and grabbed the bento boxes.

"I'm leaving," she told Kakashi, slipping into her indigo sandals and grabbing the bento boxes.

"Okay." Kakashi acknowledged, giving her a kiss on her cheek. "Have fun!"

"I will," Taylor smiled and left to go have lunch with Dalzen.

.

When she got to Intel, Taylor pulled out her card and showed it to the panel, unlike Dalzen who didn't even know what he was supposed to do. That would make for a good tease, and Dalzen knew Taylor would enjoy teasing him for it. The panel acknowledged her and she walked away from it. Just as she walked away, she saw Yamanaka Inoichi and she waved at him, then she drew her arm back and hugged the wooden bento boxes close to her chest.

"Good afternoon, Yamanaka-San," she greeted.

"Ah, good afternoon, Miss Taylor," he greeted back. "You caught me just before I left. What's up?"

"Oh, I was gonna get Dalzen-Sensei for lunch, if I may," she said. "Uhm..." She looked down awkwardly. "H-He is staying with us so I know him."

"He already told me," he smiled. "No need to try to figure out an excuse for knowing him..." he paused and thought. "I left him in the interrogations unit but he might've wandered off somewhere. Sorry."

"It's okay. I'll find him," she smiled.

Inoichi returned her smile.

"Good luck."

"Thanks."

Inoichi left and Taylor walked around for about thirty minutes before she finally managed to find Dalzen. Intel was pretty big for such a small girl and occasionally, she got distracted by someone. At one point, someone was banging on their computer, trying to get it to work. Taylor noticed the problem immediately and came over to help the chuunin.

"Need help?" she offered.

"What can you do that I can't?"

Taylor smiled a bit, leaned over him and pressed two keys and the screen went dark, then lit back up, unfrozen.

"How'd you..."

"Two simple keys will fix it, not a couple of hits with the fist and a ninjutsu attack," Taylor said. "You've got to be careful with these though, Intelligence doesn't have enough to replace a lot of these computers. Alright?"

"Y-Yeah..."

Taylor smiled and walked away, clutching the bento boxes in her arms. When she found Dalzen, he was coming out of an interrogation room with another man that looked eerily similar to Dalzen. Taylor waved her hand to get her friend's attention.

Ibiki caught her before his grandfather did.

"Hey, that girl is waving at you," he told his grandfather, pointing at Taylor.

The elder Morino looked up, then surprised by the youngest Hatake's presence. What in the heck was she doing there?

"Taylor?" he questioned in confusion.

She grinned.

"Hiya Dalzen," she greeted.

Ibiki looked at her.

"Oh!" he laughed a bit. "So this is the Taylor Hatake you mentioned earlier?"

"Y-Yeah...she's Sakumo's granddaughter," Dalzen explained.

"And daughter of Kakashi Hatake," Ibiki smiled. "I remember you, Taylor. You were the only ten-year-old at the chuunin exams and when I picked up your test, I read it was amazed at what you knew that other genin don't usually know. I almost recommended you skip over being a chuunin and go straight to jounin."

"Oh really?" Taylor's eyes brightened up. "Oh! You're Morino Ibiki! That's right, you're the proctor for the chuunin exams. You know, you kinda scared me at first, but then again, I was ten..." Taylor scratched her cheek and smiled in embarrassment. "I sat in the room looking at everyone wondering why everyone was stressing out. It was pretty much only me who knew what they were doing. So weird..."

Dalzen flashed Ibiki a quick glance, "You're the proctor...for the _chuunin_ exams?"

"I only hand out the written portion and pick out the kids who I saw cheat, _ojiisan_."

Dalzen wasn't quite sure how to feel about being called_ ojiisan_, but it did make Taylor wonder why Ibiki just called Dalzen _grandpa_.

"Wait...are you two...?"

"Yes..." Dalzen held his head. "He's...my grandson..."

"Wow!" Taylor looked at them. "He doesn't fully look like you but man does he have your height!"

"Well..." Dalzen felt himself actually smile a bit. "He doesn't look like me, but with the facial scars he reminds me very well of my own father."

"Cool!" Taylor smiled. "Do you have a picture of your father?"

"...I don't think I do," Dalzen said. "...He died, when I was young. Murdered, more like it."

"...Oh." Taylor looked down. "Gomen..."

"Don't be, you didn't know," Dalzen tried to smile assuringly, but it really seemed odd coming from him. Of all people...

Dalzen cleared his throat to get their attention and he looked at her awkwardly.

"So Taylor...what are you doing here?" he asked.

"Oh, I made a bento box for you for lunch and I thought that...you'd want to eat with a friend," Taylor explained.

"Oh." Dalzen looked at Ibiki.

"Go have lunch with her," his grandson grinned. "We've got it covered."

"Alright."

Ibiki looked at Taylor.

"You planning to stay after lunch, Miss Taylor?" he asked.

She looked at him.

"Yeah, sure. I don't think my dad would mind," she smiled.

"Great," Ibiki grinned.

.

Taylor and Dalzen sat down at a table in the mess hall and ate from their bento boxes.

"So you're in Intelligence?" Dalzen asked

Taylor nodded.

"I don't come often though," she admitted. "I come when I want some kind of work or if Mr. Yamanaka has a good case for me to review."

"Oh."

He thought for a moment and realized something.

"I haven't seen Sakumo leave the house other than to go out into the wheat fields," he mentioned. "I thought he was a shinobi?"

"_Was_," Taylor emphasized. "He got demoted to a civilian."

Dalzen stopped chewing and looked at Taylor, taken aback.

"What? How!?"

"You know that the time jutsu is a forbidden one, right?" Taylor asked.

"Yeah?"

"Grandpa used it and it got him into trouble...h-he lied to Tsunade to get into the archives and he got the jutsu and Tsunade found out that he was lying...and she said that if he used it then she was going to demote him...to a civilian," Taylor explained.

"And he did use the jutsu," Dalzen remembered.

"Yes."

She looked down.

"Saving my clumsy ass cost him his status as a shinobi," she muttered.

"Taylor, you weren't clumsy," Dalzen shook his head and sighed heavily. "It wasn't your fault it happened. I wasn't clumsy when this happened. Honestly, I had no clue what happened until I saw you. You had no clue you were in our time until you woke up. How are we supposed to know what happened? It's not like we were thrown through a wormhole, right?"

"The jutsu that we had used a wormhole," Taylor mentioned. "But I guess there are versions without one."

"Yeah," Dalzen nodded. "So how is it our fault if we didn't know what was coming at us?"

Taylor sighed.

"You're right...but I still feel like it was my fault Grandpa lost his status," she mumbled.

She sighed and held her face in her hands.

"Sorry...I still feel bad about that...it's a me thing..."

"Really now? I hadn't noticed."

Taylor gave him a look.

"Sorry, sorry," Dalzen apologized.

"It's...not your fault," Taylor brought a california roll to her mouth with her chopsticks.

Dalzen did the same.

"You know, you didn't have to make me a bento box," he said, eating it.

"I like to make them," Taylor smiled. "Before I leave for a long mission, I always make a bento box for my dad and grandpa. It's just something I like to do and I thought you'd appreciate it."

Dalzen looked up at her and smiled a little.

"Well, thank you Taylor," he thanked her. "It's very delightful."

Taylor smiled back.

"I'm glad you like it," she responded happily.

They then continued eating until they finished. When they did, they walked back to the interrogation units.

.

Taylor walked back home with Dalzen a little later that day, after she took a glance at the weather station at Intel, and boy did she not like the forecast so they left as soon as they could. As they walked, they were quiet. Neither of them liked small talk so they didn't comment on how ominous the clouds above them were, even though Taylor wanted to mutter about it out loud.

Just as the wind picked up, they saw Yuri and Daiichi and Taylor was not happy to see them for reasons other than she just didn't like them. The rest of the village was pretty much dead silent, and indoors. Some shops even closed up early, so what the hell were Daiichi and Yuri doing out at that moment in time? Taylor didn't know, and didn't want to know. She just wanted them to be safe and indoors.

"Yuri! Daiichi!" Taylor called out to them. Dalzen looked at Taylor and ran after her.

"Taylor, what are you doing?" he asked.

Both Chuunin looked up as Taylor ran at them.

"Whatever are y'all doing?" she exclaimed. "We're under a friggin' tornado warning!"

"We are?" Daiichi looked startled.

"Yes! I thought you guys would've gotten word by now, this kind of news travels fast and literally no one is outside other than you two," Taylor shook her head in disappointment. "You two, go straight home right now! I know we don't usually get tornadoes since they're pretty rare, but it's still possible.

Yuri looked up at the sky.

"Please?" Taylor pleaded.

"How do you even know about it?" Yuri asked Taylor arrogantly.

"I was at Intel. They have a small weather station and I check it. That's why Dalzen and I left early, just to be safe. Non-essential personnel are leaving Intel right now," Taylor explained.

"Oh." Yuri looked down.

"Go home y'all," Taylor ordered again.

"Yes ma'am."

They both left immediately and Taylor sighed.

"Damn those two are idiots, going out when it's obviously gonna storm," Taylor cursed. "They're lucky we saw them," she told Dalzen, looking up at him. "If not, they'd be caught in the wind storm and they're so light that the wind would pick them up without a problem."

He nodded.

"Let's hurry," she grabbed his hand and dragged him behind her as she ran at top speed.

Dalzen was slightly started by Taylor when she grabbed his hand and started dragging him behind her. It didn't take long for Taylor to reach her full speed and didn't take Dalzen very long to match her speed, even though he felt like he was going to trip over his own feet.

In a matter of a few minutes, they were outside the village and heading to the house. Suddenly, hail began falling from the sky alongside rain.

"Not good!" Taylor said. "Hail! Be careful!"

"You be careful," Dalzen exclaimed. "You're the one dragging _me_ behind you at top speed!"

"You need to be careful too," Taylor replied. "If you slip and fall, you're gonna take me with you and we'll both be hurt."

"Okay, you're right," Dalzen nodded.

"Damn right I am," Taylor grumbled.

Within five minutes of being battered by marble-sized hail, they were home with a few bruises from all of that hail. Both came through the front door, panting and soaking wet.

"H-Holy crap," Taylor trembled, leaning against the door.

Dalzen was just staring down at his clothes and how wet they were. Sakumo caught sight of them and said nothing as he left to get some towels to dry them off.

"We should've left earlier," he told her.

"Or Daiichi and Yuri should've kept their asses inside," Taylor grumbled. "We wasted five minutes trying to get them inside because I don't want to see them dead."

Sakumo came back with the towels.

"Dry off," the elder ordered them both. "Please."

They both nodded and each took a towel and dried off.

"Good thing you have extra clothes, Dalzen," Taylor grinned. "Otherwise you'd be screwed."

"I could go around the house without a shirt...if I really needed to," he said. "...to let my shirt dry."

"What would you do for your pants?"

"Uhm, honestly I wouldn't know," Dalzen shrugged.

"Yeah..." Taylor giggled. "Let's just stop there."

"Who said I was going to go on with that?" Dalzen looked at the silver-haired girl.

"Haha true," Taylor smiled back, taking her hair out of the holder and wrapping the towel around her hair and she wrung it out. "Whew! I am completely soaked. Guess I have to change into some dry clothes."

"Yeah, same," Dalzen agreed.

Taylor looked up at the elder Morino and smiled a bit. And after they were dry enough, they went and got into dry clothes and remarked at how many bruises they had on their arms from the marble-sized hail. Dalzen watched Taylor walk out of her room in a set of blue-plaid pjs and smiled a bit. She may be crazy, but her intentions were good. Even if they ended up being pelted by hail. There was just an odd charm about the Hatake girl that even Dalzen couldn't ignore. Was it because she was very similar to Saru? Like a female Saru? Or maybe it was because she was just so sweet. Whatever the reason, it eluded Dalzen but maybe he didn't need to know.

.

.


	5. Taylor To Teal, and Dalzen's Insanity 1

_Into The Future_

.

Chapter Five  
**_Taylor to Teal, and Dalzen's Insanity p1_**

.

.

Later that evening, Dalzen laid on the couch and stared at the ceiling. Most everyone else was in their rooms doing whatever, and Dalzen didn't have a choice in going to his room. The living room was his room, at least until Taylor got him back. He knew she would get him back, even if it meant creating a new jutsu to get him back. She was just stubborn like that.

Dalzen peeked over his knees at the window and watched and listened to the rain pelt down heavily against the house and the porch railing. Taylor opened her door and left her room to go to the bathroom and Dalzen looked over. She had a grey tank-top on now and her pj top was tied around her waist. She disappeared into the bathroom and Dalzen sighed, then listened out for other sounds. Coming from Taylor's room, he could hear a radio playing and it wasn't music. It was the weather report. He listened, curious as to what they had to say. _Heavy rain, wind speeds up to 80 kph, hail in some areas of Konoha and outside of Konoha. _Dalzen rolled his eyes. The part with the hail was pretty much over with. He had the bruises to prove it. _Konohagakure and areas around it are under a severe flood warning. Move to higher ground._ This area around Konoha was pretty high up, it didn't seem likely that they would get flooded. The house was raised up a little more than usual homes, Dalzen noted.

He put his arms behind his head and stared at the ceiling, wondering why Teal hated him? At least, that's what Dalzen happened to pick up. Considering Ibiki had said, "_Seeing you would be too much for him_." What did he mean by that? And it wouldn't have been from Dalzen not being there much. He wondered if the youngest Hatake would happen to know anything about it...

The bathroom door opened and out came Taylor, who walked towards her room, which was the closest room to the living room. Dalzen looked at her and she looked down at him. Her eyes went from serious to curious.

"Dalzen?" she wondered. "Why so glum?"

"I uhm..." Dalzen sat up. "I don't know...what do you mean?"

"You look like you were thinking about something a bit upsetting..."

"I uhm..."

She walked towards him and sat down beside him and elbowed him.

"Something's up," she grinned.

"I..." Dalzen looked down. "...don't know. It might be nothing."

"_Might_," Taylor emphasized. "Tell me and I'll be the judge of that."

"Says the girl who held back her feelings for almost three years," Dalzen grumbled. "And decided she would tell me before she told her father and grandfather..."

"I feel so much better after I talked about it," Taylor said. "You know me, I'm stubborn. Stubborn as a brick wall, if I recall correctly."

"Heh," Dalzen smiled as he remembered telling Sakumo that in the fight to protect Taylor three years ago. "Alright..." the Morino looked down at his hands and for a few moments, they listened to the rain pelting the roof and the sides of the house. "I uhm...Before you came to Intel today, I was in the interrogation room with Ibiki..."

"I gathered that much," Taylor smiled.

"And it took a little while, but eventually I realized he was one of my...protegé...and he realized I was his grandfather...he asked me questions, I asked him questions..." Dalzen glanced out the window when he caught a flash of lightning. Then, they heard a loud crash of thunder rattle the house. Dalzen continued, "I asked if he was Teal or Hoshi's child...he's Teal's..."

Taylor nodded.

"Okay..." Taylor waited for Dalzen to finish but he trailed off and didn't look like he was going to finish unless she said something. "So...?"

"I told him that was all I wanted to know...I was scared I would...mess up the timeline if I saw Teal or Hoshi..." Dalzen's eyes darted. "Then he said it wouldn't be a problem. Hoshi was off somewhere else doing something...and Teal...well..."

Taylor never saw Dalzen look so nervous, except when they had to fight each other (even though in the end Taylor let Dalzen win. How sweet...) and she listened intently. She wanted to know what he was going to tell next.

"Teal...doesn't go there...And that it would be..._too much_ for him to see me and that it wouldn't be recommended to go see him." Dalzen's breath caught in his throat and after a moment, he continued, "I was never really there for my family, I admit that...but it wasn't that, Ibiki told me."

"Wasn't that?"

"That's what I said..." Dalzen grumbled.

"What was it?" Taylor wondered.

"That's what I want to know..." Dalzen sighed. "But it would most likely mess up my time if I knew. I have a feeling I can't know about it..."

Taylor nodded.

"Maybe I can find Teal and ask him. At least I'd know," she said.

"What?" Dalzen looked at her quickly. "No, Taylor I don't think you should get involved with this."

"Come on, I don't want your own son to hate you for whatever you did," Taylor smiled. "That's what you would want if you were dead in this time. I mean, technically you are but...wow it's confusing."

Dalzen sighed heavily. She may not be his child or grandchild, but she sure did make him want to give in easily. She must have practice with Kakashi and Sakumo.

"I'll go find out what it is tomorrow and if it's something that deals with...your death, whatever it was, I will not tell you," Taylor smiled. "Alright?"

Dalzen sighed again and gave in, "Okay. Fine, tomorrow you can go find Teal."

Taylor grinned, "Awesome." Then she hugged Dalzen quickly and stood up. "You sleep. It's nearly ten."

"You do the same thing," Dalzen grumbled. "I've heard you up at twelve last night..."

"That's normal," Taylor smiled and scurried off to bed. Dalzen watched her and an unusual smile bloomed on his face. She was so unusually kind and sweet, and he wondered why. Was it just by nature, or was it something else that made her that way? He thought it was the first option.

Dalzen laid down and tried to sleep, but nightmares invaded his dreams and woke him up every other hour. It was going to be a long night...

.

Taylor woke up the next morning and ate breakfast with everyone, then left before Dalzen to do research for her own interest. She completely forgot about Teal, until she saw him walk by her. She remembered Dalzen saying he looked a lot like him, just less serious and less old. Taylor didn't think Dalzen to look his age. Certainly, he looked very good for his age, at least that's how Taylor looked at it. Remembering that incident where she said at least he's hot played in her mind and her face turned completely pink. _I was at least being honest_, she thought. _He is really handsome. It's not like I want to date him because I don't! _Taylor noticed he had pretty much the same hairstyle as Dalzen, but a lighter brown. And considering the timeframe, Teal wore the modern standard Konoha uniform.

Seeing the younger Morino made her want to go at least say hi, maybe strike up a conversation. But Taylor wasn't good at conversation with strangers but she wanted to try anyways. She knew Dalzen and Ibiki, now to try and know Teal a bit.

Clutching her binder like a shy schoolgirl in an anime, Taylor walked up to Teal but little did she know he was going to turn around like he missed a turn and walk right into her. Teal Morino walked into her without even thinking to look to make sure he wouldn't, and she lost her grip on her binder from being startled and she dropped it. Notes dropped out of her binder and both she and Teal looked at each other and then down.

"I'm sorry," he apologized as she bent down to pick up the papers. He bent down as well and tried to help her gather the papers as best as he could.

"I-It's no problem," she muttered. "I-I wasn't looking."

It took a few moments but they managed to gather up the papers and Taylor straightened the pile to go back into the binder.

"Th-Thank you," she said, snapping the prongs of the binder shut. "I can organize these later..."

"Alright," Teal flashed her a smile.

Taylor studied him for a moment and pretended she hardly knew him.

"Oh, you look a lot like someone I know," she tried to make the surprise sound believable.

He didn't want to think about who she was referring to. Certainly...not his _father_.

"Y-Yeah?" he said.

"You look like..." she widened her eyes like she had just remembered, but in fact she already knew it. "Oh! You must be Morino Teal!" She smiled sweetly. "You do look like your father...you must be about his age now..."

"Wh-What do you mean?" the young Morino wondered. "You couldn't possibly know my father."

"I do."

When Teal made a confused expression, she giggled.

"He didn't tell you when it happened, did he? I don't blame him, it was better to keep the secret of me being in that particular time frame a secret. It's...a long story, but I do know your father. He's really nice and he taught me genjutsu."

"Obviously you don't know what happened."

"No. Enlighten me," Taylor smiled. She didn't say it sarcastically, nor did she say it rhetorically. Did she really want to know what his father did? Should he even tell her? He shook his head.

"Never mind."

"I would like to know what happened though," she said.

"Maybe I'll tell it another day," Teal tried to escape telling her.

"Okay." Taylor bowed. "It was nice to meet you, Teal."

"You too...uhm..."

"Taylor. Taylor Hatake. You might know of my father, Kakashi Hatake."

"Taylor." Dalzen's son waved awkwardly and rushed off.

Taylor watched him, clutching her binder.

"I wonder why he doesn't want to talk about it and why he seemed angry when he called Dalzen his father..." she wondered out loud. "Man, what did Dalzen do to piss off his son for nearly fifty years?"

Taylor blushed a little and kept heading towards Intel. _I really do wonder why he's mad at Dalzen. If Dalzen pissed someone off, usually it wasn't his intent...__  
_

.

When Dalzen got to Intel a few minutes after Taylor, he found he quickly and asked if she saw Teal.

"Yes. But it seems you did something to piss him off," she told him.

"What did I do to piss off my own son!?" he wondered in shock. "I wouldn't try to anger him or Hoshi...so what did I do?"

"I don't know. Teal was not very comfortable in telling me," Taylor told him.

"Well, you are a complete stranger..." he grumbled.

"Yeah, and I know that." Taylor shook her head. "Perhaps I shouldn't have said I knew you because of my trip into the past..."

"You said that?"

"Well, I told him that he reminded me of someone — you. Wow does he take after you but his hair is way too light... — and he asked who and I had to pretend to think about it and then I said you. He asked me how I knew you and that's when I sorta told him how I knew you. I didn't say you were here though...That's the last thing I needed to say...that's a need-to-know basis only."

Dalzen sighed heavily.

"Right..."

Taylor crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair, "Man, I wonder what you did."

"How do you think I feel?" Dalzen shook his head and sighed. "So what are you doing?"

"Research for my stories," she answered, sitting upright and facing her computer. "Planets and stars. I'm creating a list of specifics that are needed to have a planet like ours, and then I'm creating a list of stuff for planets not like ours like Gas Giants and tiny little rocky worlds in the back of the solar system or rocky planets with very bad atmospheres for life meaning they're rich in carbon dioxide."

Dalzen stared at the child with a dumb expression and she glanced over her shoulder.

"Went over your head, didn't it?"

"Yes," Dalzen answered.

Taylor glanced back, "Damn. No one understands me."

Dalzen crossed his arms and watched her, "So...I'm just gonna leave you while I do some interrogations, and hopefully no one else decides to interview me and then realize they're also one of my protegé..." he shook his head. "I've never endured such an interrogation... At one point I had wished you and Sakumo would come to my rescue."

Taylor giggled, "I bet that was fun."

"It wasn't," Dalzen held his hand on his head. "This timeline is so strange..." Sighing, Dalzen put his hand on Taylor's head and then left. Taylor blushed a little and realized something.

"Dalzen," she started.

He glanced over his shoulder.

"...What?"

"I think you should wear a mask when you're going through town, like my dad does."

"Why?"

"Because..." Taylor looked down. "I don't think we want to find out what Teal will do if he sees you by accident."

"Where will I find one?"

"I'll go out and grab one from my father's room, for you later before we go home," she promised. "He won't mind...I just... I don't want him to get upset seeing you, or anything."

Dalzen nodded.

"Okay," he agreed. "I'll wear a mask in town but not when I'm in here since I don't think he comes here."

"I doubt it," Taylor agreed.

Dalzen allowed a faint smile and then he walked off to do interrogations. Taylor looked at her computer, tempted to ask someone for his file. She decided against it, but an hour later she wanted to go find someone that'd be willing to find his file. She went looking for Inoichi and found him in his office. She knocked on the open door out of politeness.

"Inoichi-San," she said.

He glanced up, "Taylor? Come in."

She walked in and glanced behind her and closed the door because she didn't want Dalzen coming down that hall for whatever reason and overhearing them.

"What's up?" Inoichi asked the quiet girl. She rarely ever felt the need to go into his office, even when the chuunin and some of the jounin were giving her a hard time because she's only 16 and a jounin working at Intel. Some of them were just jealous of her intelligence. He told her first thing when she joined the Intel ward that if anyone gave her a hard time, she was free to go to him. But Inoichi had a feeling it wasn't that, rather something entirely different. "Is there anyone bothering you?"

"No sir," Taylor shook her head. "Not at all. It's something else entirely."

He tilted his head in curiousity.

"Ibiki met Dalzen yesterday, and they chatted a bit...Dalzen had told him that he was afraid of seeing his children this far into the future and Ibiki had said to not worry about it because Hoshi was on a mission and that Teal...it would be too much for him to see Dalzen, and I would like to know what happened. I just need Dalzen's file and I think there's something in there that might help me figure that out. Do you happen to have Dalzen Morino's file?"

That was definitely an unusual request, but Inoichi knew Taylor was trying to understand for Dalzen why his son would get upset if he saw him. Inoichi closed his eyes and nodded, gesturing her over to behind the desk while he rolled the chair to file cabinets behind him. Taylor walked over and stood over Inoichi while he took out a key and stuck it in the lock.

"I got his file the other day from Lady Tsunade," he told her. "We keep files on everyone who works here, including you, and Lady Tsunade had to dig out his since he's been dead for so long and give it to us. It's amazing that Nidaime kept it."

Taylor nodded in agreement. She didn't actually know why she thought they would still have the file, but she was glad she asked about it. Inoichi opened the cabinet and pulled files towards him that he wasn't looking for.

"Minami, Mizushima, Miyamoto, Mori... Aa! Morino," he pulled out the file for Morino Dalzen. "Morino Dalzen," he handed the file to Taylor.

"Does it have his cause of death in it too, from when he died?" she asked.

"It should," Inoichi nodded.

"Okay. Thank you, Inoichi-San," she took the file and bowed.

"Don't tell him how he dies," he warned her.

Taylor nodded, "I have no intentions of telling him, sir. I promise."

Inoichi smiled, "Good. Is there anything else you need, Taylor?"

She shook her head, "No sir. I'll be going now, and hopefully I can fix Teal's feelings towards his father for whatever he did wrong..."

Inoichi nodded, "Of course. I will see you later then."

Taylor bowed and opened the door, checked for Dalzen's presence and once she knew the coast was clear, she dashed back to her station with the file in her arms.

.

After she shoved the file into her binder, she made sure no one got ahold of it. On occasion, she'd pull out the file and glance over it, then put it back. She wasn't ready to find out how Dalzen died, and she had a feeling that was the reason Teal disliked his father. _Dalzen Morino; Age 53; height 195 centimeters; Jounin; Specializes in Genjutsu; born in Country 14 and joined Konoha; Married to Chinatsu Senju; Two kids: Hoshi and Teal Morino_. The basics that Taylor already knew.

She left early to grab one of Kakashi's masks (a clean one, of course) to allow Dalzen wear it so Teal doesn't see him. Or at least recognize him. She went home at about lunch time and asked Kakashi if Dalzen could borrow one of his masks.

"W-Why?" he wondered.

"Because..." Taylor looked down. "His son hates him (at least that's what I've gathered), and since his son lives in the village, it's possible that he'll see Dalzen and only the Goddess knows what'll happen if Teal sees or recognizes Dalzen."

"...Oh," Kakashi nodded. "Of course..." He turned around and went into his room and came out with a clean mask. "I don't want to find out what his son will do if he finds his father here too, so here. It should help make it hard for him to be recognizable."

"Yeah," Taylor agreed. "Well, I'm gonna go give this to Dalzen and figure out why his son hates him..."

"Alright. Be careful, though, I don't want you getting into things you shouldn't," Kakashi warned.

"It'll be fine, Dad, you don't have to worry," Taylor assured.

"I'm not so sure of that," Kakashi grumbled. "Whatever. Go have fun."

"I will," Taylor grinned. "_Aishite_!" She bowed and much like a ghost, she disappeared.

She reappeared in the Intel Ward and she went to find Dalzen. She found him leaving an interrogation room with a file in his hands, the file on the person he was interrogating, Taylor guessed. She walked up to him in silence and he noticed her presence, so he looked at her questioningly.

"Taylor?"

"Hi, Dalzen," she grinned. "I brought you one of my father's masks. It's clean, of course, and my father didn't mind giving one up."

He kinda glanced at the mask, feeling uneasy about having to wear it, but he nodded.

"Thank you," he thanked her, taking the mask from her.

"Let's see you in a mask!" Taylor grinned, curious to see it.

Dalzen stared at the child, but gave in and he slid the mask over his head and down to his neck, then pulling the mask up over his nose to hide his mouth and nose. He straightened out the collar and tucked it under his shirt's collar.

"How...do I look?" he asked.

Taylor studied him, "You look pretty good. I prefer you without it, but it's to make sure you don't get seen by Teal so I think it'll work."

"Should I wear a modern-day Konoha uniform too if we're trying to make it harder for me to be recognized?" he wondered. "You know, since we wore these in my time and Teal would notice quickly."

"You know, that might work," Taylor grinned. "That'd be interesting, I'd like to see you in our current uniform..."

"Alright..." Dalzen was unsure of why he was reluctant to disguise himself, but at the same time he'd rather not get seen by Teal, only to get yelled at and him not having a clue why he was being yelled at. That would be very awkward, and Dalzen would do anything to avoid an awkward moment like that one.

"Let's go get you a modern, standard Konoha uniform," Taylor smiled.

"Yeah..." Dalzen sighed and followed Taylor out of Intel, signing out first of course.

.

"You're 6'5" so..." Taylor sifted through the uniforms. "You're so tall... I don't think you can wear the size my dad can...and he's 6'0"."

"Well, that's why I wouldn't be able to fit in Kakashi's clothes. He's five inches shorter than I am," Dalzen sighed. "And I don't memorize what size clothes I wear."

"Lemme see then," Taylor tried to reach up to Dalzen's neck but he was just out of her reach. "Crouch down."

Dalzen did as she asked and he crouched down and Taylor read the tag that was inside the back of the collar of his shirt. "You're...Okay, find a jacket in XLT."

"XLT?" he asked.

"Yeah," Taylor nodded.

"Okay," he shrugged and did as she said and they both sifted through the Konoha green jackets until they found one in his size.

"Not a lot of people are 6'5"," Taylor giggled as she pulled it out. "Try it on."

Dalzen took the jacket from her and unzipped it and slipped into it. Then, he zipped it up and looked at Taylor.

"Does it feel good?" Taylor asked.

"Yeah, it kinda does," Dalzen admitted. "But at the same time, it feels...bulky."

"Well, that's because it's quite thicker than your usual vest," Taylor grinned. "And it's got pockets for scrolls."

"I don't need the pockets," he muttered.

"I know, but all Konoha uniforms are made with them," Taylor shrugged. "Let's get it for you then."

"...Yeah..." Dalzen's eyes darted downwards towards the left as he unzipped the jacket. He thought about how he had to hide from his own son. As much as he hated the idea of being incognito like that and as much as he loved his son, it just wasn't worth having an awkward moment just so he could see his son as an adult. He would rather not get yelled at by his own son, who had to be in his late fifties now!

Taylor payed for Dalzen's vest and she handed it back to him.

"Wear this and give me your other vest," she told him.

"Why?" he wondered. "You're not gonna wear it, are you?!"

"I am. It'll look weird if I'm just carrying it folded over my arms and you shouldn't do it either," Taylor told him.

"It'll look much weirder if you're wearing it! I mean, it's gotta be like a dress on you because you're so petite and short!" Dalzen exclaimed.

"Dalzen, just do it."

"Fine." He handed her his old vest and she gave him the new one.

"It's just till we get home," she promised, slipping Dalzen's old vest on her. "You can put switch back out then, but when you're in the village you should wear that."

Dalzen slipped his new vest back on and zipped it up. _I suppose she's right_, he thought.

"Wow, that is a dress on you," he commented.

"Yeah...I like Saru's vest better since it doesn't look so big on me," Taylor grinned.

Dalzen nodded in agreement. That was definitely true. Saru was short, only 5'5", and Taylor was just 3 inches shorter. It had to look a lot better on her than his vest.

"Let's go home," she mumbled quietly.

"Yeah..." Dalzen nodded and they went home.

.

Taylor picked up Dalzen's file when she was in her room late that night and finally decided to read the medical examiner's notes on his cause of death. She bit down on her thumb as she read it. _Morino Dalzen; age 56; height 195cm; grey eyes; black hair; pale skin; originally born in country 14, decided to join Shodaime. After two months of being in a coma, Morino Dalzen died. Cause of the coma: what Intel calls a "death bed" scan. He read the mind of a young man who was dying and a bit of his soul was taken when the young man died. He was in a coma for two months...he left behind a wife and two kids._

Taylor eyes teared up just reading it. _Dalzen died doing a "death bed" scan? Oh my goddess! I cannot tell him that!_ she thought. _That is awful! _She sniffled and rubbed her eyes.

"I can't tell him, I cannot tell him..." There was a knock at her door and Taylor shoved his file under her pillow. "_Hai_!"

The door opened and revealed Sakumo. He looked at her, then closed the door behind him when he walked into her room.

"You have his file, don't you?" he asked.

"Yeah," Taylor sniffled.

"You wanted to know how he died..."

"Yes."

"He did the 'death bed' scan," they both said at the same time.

"I know, I just read that..." Taylor rubbed her eyes.

"That's why Teal hates him," Sakumo said. "I remember hearing him say that he hated his father for that...and he abhors the work, it's too dangerous."

"Hell yeah it is," Taylor agreed. "No wonder why Teal hates him!" She looked down. "But I want to try and get him to at least accept why he did it. Can you tell me why he did it?"

"Of course..." Sakumo sat down beside her on her bed and told her. She sat on her bed, cross-legged, listening with much interest. The story had taken only a few minutes, under 10 minutes, but it was still interesting to Taylor. When Sakumo finished, Taylor understood.

"...Oh..." she murmured. "That's...I understand that..."

"Yeah," Sakumo nodded. "You can't tell him though, you cannot tell him anything you read or heard from me. Okay?"

"I know, Grandpa. I am not gonna tell him. I promise..."

"Good," he smiled. "Now go to bed. It's nearly eleven."

"I know..." Taylor sighed.

Sakumo kissed her cheek and stood up, messing up her hair a little and then leaving without another word. Taylor pulled the file back out and looked at it again.

"I promise Dalzen, I will try to get your son to forgive you..." she whispered her promise. "I promise." she glanced up and thought she saw him walking in her room, but it wasn't him like she saw him now...

She freaked.

"Oh no! Am I seeing his ghost too? Oh man, this isn't good!" She stood up. "Dalzen?"

The ghost turned his head and looked at her. He looked a little older than he was now, but he was still Dalzen. Or, his ghost from when he died in his time... Taylor clutched the bottom of her shirt and walked over to him, trembling. "Uncle Dalzen? Uncle Dalzen, if you can hear me say something."

"T...Taylor...?" he wondered.

"Oh...shit..." Taylor's jaw dropped. If the situation wasn't worse already, it just definitely got worse.

And Taylor knew she had to try and help his ghost. Dalzen's ghost had unfinished business, and Taylor was the only who could help. This was going to be interesting.

.

.


	6. Taylor To Teal, and Dalzen's Insanity 2

_Into the Future_

.

.

Chapter 6  
**_Taylor to Teal, and Dalzen's Insanity part 2_**

.

"Oh...shit..." she muttered, looking around quickly and back at him. "I thought Saru said you'd moved on!"

Dalzen's ghost shook his head, "I hadn't moved on..."

"Why?"

"Teal."

"Teal...yeah, of course..." Taylor shook her head and opened her door and peeked out down the hall at Dalzen, who was resting on the couch. Things were about to get confusing for Taylor. She huffed and slid her door closed, then sat on her bed and held her face in her hands. "Oh my gosh..." she groaned.

"What?" the ghost Dalzen asked. "Why are you upset?"

Taylor rested her forehead on her fist and she clutched her bangs, "You, your 53-year-old self is here and now I'm aware of you as a ghost here too."

"I'm here..."

"In two different places," Taylor said. "You're dead in this time, technically, and you're also alive. Wow, Schrödinger's cat...More like, Schrödinger's Dalzen..."

"What?" he tilted his head. "Schrödinger's...cat?"

"You're dead and alive at the same time," Taylor explained. "But I didn't need to have a box to do it..."

She sighed and let go of her bangs, "I'm working on trying to talk to Teal, alright?"

Dalzen's ghost nodded slowly. He seemed a little off, definitely not like the Dalzen she knew. He was much quieter and it seemed, more dazed. Of course, Dalzen was always quiet but he wasn't this quiet. In a way...he seemed much sadder than normal. Perhaps it was because he upset his own son by the way he died, and Taylor knew she had to fix that.

"Go somewhere else, Dalzen," she grumbled.

"I thought you enjoyed my company?"

"Not when I'm sleeping," Taylor turned off the light and laid down in her bed. "Night, Ghost Dalzen..." she murmured.

"...Night..."

Taylor closed her eyes and tried to fall asleep, but Dalzen's ghost never actually left the room. Instead, he sat on her desk and watched her sleep in silence. He'd never really seen her sleep before, and he was definitely amazed by how many times she moved and different ways she would sleep. She even flipped over to the other side of her bed, facing away from her pillow. Dalzen tried not to laugh at that. _How can she do that?_ Flexibility, he decided when she flipped over to sleep in a very odd position. She was very flexible, that was for sure.

.

The Dalzen that was alive laid on the couch, staring at the ceiling. _What did I do?_ he wondered. He thought about it as he tried to sleep, but his mind wouldn't rest. _Shut up,_ he thought. _Let me sleep._ Dalzen just wanted to sleep, was it too much to ask? Apparently, his mind thought so. He sat up and looked around. Taylor took something to help her sleep, but Dalzen wasn't sure what it was or if it would work on him. She kept it in her room, but would it be bad if he snuck in there just to find out if he could take it? Surely she'd understand... Dalzen stood up, willing to take the chance of waking up Taylor. She would understand him wanting to try something to sleep. He walked to her room and slowly opened it. Once he was sure he was safe, he crept across the wooden floor to Taylor's desk, careful to not wake her. Keeping his breathing slow and quiet, he grabbed the bottle of melatonin and tried to read the bottle. 3 milligrams, but that might only be because Taylor was so small. Maybe if he took two if would have a greater effect on him since he's a lot taller than she is, the sleeping aid had much longer to go in his bloodstream unlike Taylor._  
_

He took two, tempted to grab another one in case two wouldn't do him any justice. He grabbed another one and decided if two wasn't enough, a third one couldn't hurt.

Right?

Dalzen looked back at Taylor, still sleeping. Then he saw someone jump down from her desk and he couldn't make out who it was, but whoever it was made no sound. Dalzen demanded to know who else was in the room, and he felt like it was a leading question that he knew he answer to.

"Who's there?" he demanded in a whisper.

No response. He sat the bottle down on the desk and grabbed the knife closest to him, clutching the tiny pills in his left hand so he could use his right hand to defend himself and Taylor, if need-be. The Morino raised the knife above his face, the sharp end pointing to his right.

"Who's there?" he demanded again.

Still no response. Whatever moonlight that filtered through her curtains seemed to reflect off of someone other than Taylor. He could make out a face, almost, and dark hair...just like his...

Taylor woke up to Dalzen's whispers, despite him trying to prevent waking her. Taylor's blue eyes opened and she turned over onto her side to face Dalzen, both Dalzens little did she realize, and stared at him tiredly.

"Dalzen?" she recognized the alive Dalzen quickly. "What...are you doing...in my room?" she rubbed her eyes trying to figure out why she was looking at two Dalzens.

Both of them looked at her and both answered at the same time.

"I uhm...I uh..." the living Dalzen wasn't sure how to answer.

"I never actually left," his ghost admitted.

"I uhm..." his eyes dashed to the side as he tried to come up with an excuse. "I-I'll tell you in the morning. Go back to sleep, Taylor."

Taylor didn't question it. Instead, she nodded and closed her eyes.

"Night..."

"Night." Dalzen spun around and caught a glimpse of the ghost again. He wore the same uniform he wore and his hair was just as dark. He even had the same build as he did...

_What in the heck is going on_? he thought. _I have got to be seeing things..._ He shook his head and placed the knife back on Taylor's desk and left quickly, feeling really awkward. He closed her door and slipped back into the living room, then sitting down on the couch and taking two pills with a glass of water. He had no idea what he saw. For all he knew, it was just his mind playing tricks on him. He sipped the water again, trying to wash down the tiny pills and he sighed heavily, sitting the glass down on the coffee table. With another sigh, he laid back down, pulled the blanket over him and tried to go back to sleep. This time, he had no problem sleeping, and he was glad for that.

.

Taylor woke up the next morning with ghost Dalzen handing out at her desk, admiring her artwork. She opened her eyes and sat up, rubbing her eyes and looked at Dalzen's ghost.

"Dalzen?" she murmured.

He looked at her and gave her a soft smile.

"You have improved with your work," the ghost commented

"Y-Yeah..." she stood up. "Did...Did you watch me the entire night?"

"I had nothing better to do," the ghost replied.

Taylor's face turned pink.

"Y-You didn't watch me flip around in my bed, did you?!"

"...I did," he gave her a teasing grin.

She held her head.

"You're lucky you're a ghost and that I like you, otherwise I'd slap you," she grumbled. "Don't bug me when I'm out in the living room," she went and gathered clean clothes and sighed. "Seriously..." She opened her door and headed out to go take a shower.

Dalzen's ghost sighed and stumbled out into the living room, where he saw himself sleeping. Dalzen slept peacefully with one arm under the pillow on his side and with his knees pulled close to his chest a bit. Dalzen's ghost tilted his head, "I don't sleep like that, do I?"

Dalzen tried to turn over and bury his face in the couch to make it dark again. He was too tired to want to get up. _I don't want to get up_, he thought. _Too early! _Dalzen gripped his pillow and tried to create night again and allow himself another hour of sleep. Luckily, he didn't have a child jumping on him to keep him awake. He knew Taylor was the kind of child to do it, and perhaps he remembered Teal and Hoshi doing it once or twice. But Taylor definitely would do it. Or maybe that's one thing she actually grew out of...

Dalzen's ghost turned around when he heard Taylor coming out of that bathroom and she looked at him.

"Dalzen!" she hissed.

"I'm not going to bother you," his ghost promised. "I just don't want to be stuck in your room."

"Fine," she went back into her room and went to brush out her tangled hair. She came back out a few minutes later and went into the kitchen. "I'm gonna go talk to Teal today, I hope..." she told his ghost.

"Yeah...good luck," he grumbled.

"I can try," Taylor grabbed a super sugary snack, thinking she could get away with it for breakfast since Kakashi and Sakumo weren't up to cook.

"What are you doing?" Dalzen's ghost asked.

"Grabbing a...poptart?" she wondered. "It's...a snack, of sorts... No one is up to make me breakfast and I need to try and find Teal so I'm grabbing something quick and doesn't need to be heated up or cooked."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" his ghost wondered.

"Yeah," Taylor grinned. "I do it whenever no one is around to cook something for me. I'll get ramen later if I get hungry."

"Alright, if you say it's okay..." Dalzen's ghost watched as she stuck one in her mouth and take her binder and she rushed out of the house. He decided to follow her, thinking he might need to be there.

Dalzen woke up suddenly to the front door opening and closing. He sat up and looked. _Damn it, who just left?_ He looked around and sighed. _It doesn't seem like anyone is up..._ Sighing again, he threw himself back down and tried to sleep again.

.

Taylor ate her poptart on her way to the village and she tossed a piece of gum into her mouth so her breath didn't smell like strawberry poptarts. It was only 8 in the morning, but it was already humid outside. Taylor rubbed her forehead and sighed. _So humid_, she thought, entering into the village. It didn't take her long to yet again, run into Teal Morino. This time, she gathered up the courage to walk up to him and try to start up a conversation with him.

"Hi, Teal," she smiled.

He glanced down at the girl, who had crumbs around her mouth.

"You've got crumbs around your mouth," he pointed out, flashing a smile at her.

"Huh? I do? Crap, I'm sorry," she wiped them from her mouth. "I ate something on my way into the village..."

Teal smiled, "So what do you want this early in the morning?"

"Oh, I..." Taylor froze. "I uhm..." Her eyes dashed down to the side and she looked back at Teal. "I-I wanted to talk to you...about your father."

"Please don't," Teal pleaded. "I don't want to talk about my father."

"Yes...but your father wants you to talk about him," she said, looking at his ghost. "Or...at least accept why he did what he did..."

"How do you know that?" Teal wondered.

"He...His ghost is with me." Taylor's face grew pink.

"What do you mean 'his ghost is with you?" Teal asked.

"I mean, I can see and communicate with your father's ghost," Taylor's eyes peered down at her feet in embarrassment. "I'm sorry. It's uhm... a weird thing. It's usually people I've known and cared about, or heck even a blood relative like my great-granduncle..."

Teal grabbed her hand and looked around, "Let's not talk about it here."

Taylor nodded and allowed Teal to lead her to a quiet corner of the village. Once they got there, they talked.

"You see...ghosts..." he said.

"Yeah," Taylor nodded.

"And you can see my father's ghost..."

"Yeah," she looked down. "I know, it's weird. It's okay if you don't believe me..."

"No, I kinda do believe you..." Teal looked around. "Tell me...how do you know my dad?"

Taylor looked at him, "You really want to know?"

"Yes...It's odd that a child of your age would know of him like this," he said.

"Well..." She sighed and went into detail about her excursion into the past and only told of the parts that really mattered like when Dalzen taught her genjutsu and she stayed with Coushander and when they were confronted by the person who sent her to that time, Dalzen tried to defend her despite not being able to do much since most of what he knew was genjutsu. "...And so...that's how I know your father, Morino Dalzen." She said nothing of his presence in that timeline. "I don't know why I can see him because neither my father nor my grandfather can see ghosts...neither could my great-grandfather...maybe it's matrilineal...from my mom's side of the family."

Teal shrugged.

"So, if you can see him...tell me what he wants to tell me?"

As soon as Dalzen's ghost started talking, Taylor parroted it to Teal.

"Dalzen says he's sorry," she started as he started to speak it. "He wishes he didn't have to do what he did, but it was the only way to get the information...Little did he know, it was going to take part of him and send him into the coma. If Dalzen had a choice, he wouldn't have done it. He wouldn't have done it just for you and Hoshi, because that's how much he loves you. He..." Taylor was almost shocked when Dalzen said the words, "I really love you and your sister and your mother." She looked at him, but he smiled. He knew that was the first time she'd heard him say something like that. "He...absolutely loves you and Hoshi and Hina."

"I don't believe you," Teal said. "He did it on purpose. He didn't care about us!"

"Yes he did!" Taylor exclaimed. "Dalzen loves you and your sister. If he didn't have to do it, he absolutely wouldn't have! That's how much he cares!"

"But he had to, didn't he?" Teal frowned. "He didn't care. He was never there for us."

"At least your father tried!" Taylor yelled. "Why don't you at least appreciate your father's attempts to keep you and your sister and your mother safe!? He was a shinobi, he continued to be a shinobi once you guys were born because he wanted to protect you guys! He wanted to be a good role model for you."

"He was never there for us, and then he did that damned jutsu and died because he didn't care."

Taylor never fully knew the extent of her protection for her friends and family, but she pretty much found that out at that moment.

"You're such a brat for someone who's about the same age as my grandfather!" Taylor spat. "Just appreciate your dad's efforts to protect you and get over yourself. Yeah I'd be pissed if my dad died like that too, but at least I'd appreciate why he did what he did!"

Teal fell silent but he held a dark expression on his face.

"Leave me alone," he grumbled. "You would never understand why I hate my dad."

Taylor frowned and glared at him, "You are such an unappreciative brat for being the son of Dalzen. My goal isn't to get you to stop abhoring his work, my goal is get you to appreciate him a little more. Hell, even Ibiki appreciates his efforts and he never knew his grandfather."

Dalzen, the alive Dalzen, heard them shouting and went to see who it was. The tall man was dressed in a mask and a standard modern-day Konoha uniform, and he was curious to know who was shouting at who. He was surprised to find Taylor and a strange man that eerily looked like his son, but a lot older. He walked up to Taylor, fuming about Teal's childishness.

"You're such a child, Teal," she stomped her foot. "Guess I am not good at persuading people to accept things. That's okay. I tried to be nice and help out my friend but guess I can't even do that." She spun around and walked straight into Dalzen. She gasped and looked up.

"AHHHH! What are you doing here?!" she exclaimed.

Teal looked at the man and questioned who he was. Taylor turned her head.

"Uh...uh...!" she shoved Dalzen back like he couldn't be there and smiled wearily. "H-He's a friend of mine. D-Don't mind him."

"He's a newbie ninja, isn't he?"

"Y-Yeah, you can say that," Taylor laughed nervously. "Bye! Gotta go. Think about what I said, why don't you?" She bowed and dashed off, holding Dalzen's hand. She dragged him far from his own son and then stopped to take a quick break.

"Dalzen, what the hell were you thinking?" she asked.

"I heard shouting and it sounded like you so I wanted to see what it was about."

"It was your son!" Taylor exclaimed. "I was shouting at your son."

"Why?"

"I can't tell you, Dalzen," she said in an irritated tone. "You damn well know that!"

"I'm sorry!" he threw his hands up defensively. "I didn't mean to irritate you."

Taylor waved him off, "I'm going home...I don't feel like working at Intel today..."

She bowed and left with a stomp of her foot and Dalzen was left completely clueless.

"Did I do something wrong?" No answer, so he sighed and went to Intel to get his mind off the situation Taylor got herself into. _She just wants to help you, Dalzen_, he thought. _Just let her try to help you._

Ghost Dalzen held his head. _I can't believe that didn't work_, he thought. _Hell, the way she sounded I would've believed it myself. Teal, please think her words over...I don't want you to be this way..._ He sighed and followed Taylor.

For a moment, Dalzen caught a glimpse of his ghost but couldn't see his face. He stood, rather confused. _That can't be me...can it?_ He looked around and looked back, but did not see the ghost anymore. _It has to be my imagination..._

Ghost Dalzen sighed dejectedly, _Dear Lord, please let Teal forgive me. Better he forgive me sooner than later... I don't want him to be like this forever._

Without a sound, both Dalzens headed in opposite direction, the ghost heading home and the other going to Intel.

.

Taylor laid on her bed and stared at her ceiling. _I feel bad for what I said to Teal, _she thought._ But at the same time I feel like I was being honest to him... _She sighed. _I don't blame him for not believing me. Being able to see ghosts sounds so surreal... _She covered her face with her hands. _But it's not unreal! I can see ghosts, and I hate it when no one listens to me!_

Ghost Dalzen sat down beside Taylor and watched her as she thought. _I'm lucky I've only seen Saru and Dalzen's ghosts...I'd hate to start seeing Coushander's or hell, even Jiraiya's. Actually...I wouldn't mind seeing Coushander..._ Taylor glanced to her side and stared out the window as best as she could. _I wonder why I haven't seen Grandma Matty yet...I never knew her, but I would like to meet her._

Taylor closed her eyes and a familiar scene played out in her head. She had gotten hungry, and she walked out of her room to find Coushander and wandered into his room to see if he was in there. He wasn't, but something caught her eye...She walked in and tried to get a better look of it and she had found it to be a photo of Coushander, a lot younger than she knew him then, with a woman she didn't recognize. Suddenly, she heard footsteps running towards his room and before she could put down the photo and hurry to her room like she was never there, Coushander came into the room and saw her. His expression seeing her in his room was not a very happy expression. Rather, he seemed angry that she went into his room without asking.

_"What the—?" Coushander saw Taylor standing with the picture in her hands. Her innocent, blue eyes peered up at the man._

_"Uhm..."_

_"What the hell are you doing in my room?!" Coushander exclaimed, nearly furious that the girl was in his room. But, did he ever specify that she can't be in his room? He actually didn't know and didn't care. Taylor winced and answered in a tiny voice with, "I was trying to find you...sorry..."_

_Coushander looked at her hands and saw the picture and his emotions started to shift to being sad instead of mad. Sadly, he grabbed the picture out of her hands and sat it back down where it was supposed to go. Taylor didn't notice his feelings right away. Silently, she looked at the picture again._

_"Hey Coushander, can I ask you something? Who's the pretty lady in the picture?" she asked, looking at him curiously._

_"Your great-grandmother," he hesitated. His voice cracked a bit too. "Sakumo's mother."_

_Taylor looked up at him and focused on him and what he was saying to her._

_"She was quiet, a lot like you are. And really supportive of me. I didn't want children, but Matty did," he continued. "I was upset when I found out, I really was, but once Sakumo was born...that pretty much changed. I wanted that boy...Oh god, I knew I had to keep him. I knew I loved him. I miss her so much..."_

_A stray tear slipped down the elder's narrow jaw and Taylor reached up and was about to wipe it away, but Coushander grabbed her hand before she did, making her bring her arm back to her side. Taylor thought for a moment, then asked quietly, "Where is Grandma Matty now?"_

_"Dead."_

_The way Coushander said it made a sharp pang of sadness go through Taylor's heart. Her eyebrows creased in sadness and she herself began to feel sad. Before she could go give him a hug, the man turned around to face the hallway._

_"What'd you need me for, anyway?" he asked._

_"Oh..." Taylor looked up. "I was gonna ask when you were gonna start making supper."_

_"Soon," he replied quickly but still with the sound of sadness in his voice._

_They both fell silent and after a few minutes, Coushander left to start on supper. Taylor blinked away tears and she sniffled a bit and looked back at the picture. Then, she looked back at the hall and left quickly before Coushander came back to drag her ass out._

Taylor had that photo hidden away. She liked it a lot, she thought it was a cute photo of Coushander and his first wife. It was also kinda nice to see her grandfather's parents together, since she'd never seen them together since Matsuko died a few years prior to her excursion. _I wonder if Dalzen ever knew her_, she wondered. _He knew Kano, but I have a feeling he didn't know Matty... I wonder why I have that feeling._ She remembered Saru telling her about the Kiri mission, and then remembered him saying Coushander had left for a long time before returning to the Fire. It was where he met Matty. He brought her home and were happily married and had Sakumo, despite Coushander not wanting him at first but his wife survived it, and he was glad for that and for his son. But Taylor wasn't sure if Coushander continued to see his friends, and she found out the story of why he was with Dalzen that night she came there. Dalzen saw Coushander in the village and couldn't help but walk him home. Saru thought it was great that she got to meet Dalzen, and she was glad too. But did Dalzen ever meet Coushander's first wife? That was a question Taylor pondered, but decided not to ask it to the ghost sitting beside her. She sighed and sat up, then switching to lay on the bed lengthwise instead of width-wise. Then, she dozed off for a few minutes and memories followed her into a deep sleep.

.

A day and a half later, Taylor went out to go to Intel before Dalzen, of course, and this time Teal approached her cautiously. Dalzen's ghost hung beside Taylor, and he looked at his son.

"Teal," he pointed out.

Taylor looked up and to the side.

"Teal?"

He bowed to her.

"_Ohayo gozaimasu_," he greeted.

"_O-Ohayo gozaimasu_?" she returned his greeting.

"I'm sorry about the other day," Teal apologized. "That was very childish, might I say. I thought through what you said...you are right. It's childish to cling onto something like that for as long as I have, and for that..." He swallowed hard. "I forgive my father...I won't go anywhere near Intelligence or his works...but.. after what you said, I really do believe my father was trying to do what was needed to be done."

_That was quick,_ Taylor thought. _I wonder how he managed to change his mind so quickly._ She smiled despite feeling he changed his mind too fast.

"That's good," she said.

Teal scratched the back of his head awkwardly, "But I wish he lived a little longer than he did and didn't die the way he did."

"He wishes the same thing," Taylor said for Dalzen's ghost. The ghost nodded quickly. He agreed without a doubt.

"Can you tell my father that... I... uhm..."

"Love him?"

"Er..." Teal smiled at the child. "Yeah, I suppose you can say that."

"Don't worry, Dalzen loves you even if you won't admit you love him back," Taylor grinned.

"But really, you can see ghosts?"

"Only the ghosts of people I'm related to or friends with. That's why I can see Dalzen..." Taylor scratched her cheek in embarrassment. "It doesn't happen very often. My first encounter with a ghost was my great-granduncle, Saru-Shin...er...Hatake Ryouma. I haven't seen my great-grandma, but she might've moved on so I can't see her much. I've seen my granduncle, Jiraiya, a couple of times." Taylor shuddered at the thought of him. Although, he did admit one day that he wasn't into that kind of stuff...meaning he wasn't into _incest_. Just the thought of actually seeing his grandniece naked sent chills through his back. Besides, he liked 'em young but not as young as she was! He was not a pedophile, just a 'super' pervert. She remembered hearing Naruto call him 'Pervy Sage' and for some reason, the nickname just stuck with her. "I've never seen my mother's ghost before, and I figured I'd see her since I would think she would want to keep an eye on me...That's weird..."_  
_

"That is weird," Teal agreed. "Even the fact that you can see just the spirits of those who are related to you."

"Well, it's not something I like to talk about really..." Taylor looked around. "I figured you would call me insane when I told you I could see Dalzen's ghosts."

"And you are."

"Not really," Taylor grinned. "Saru says I'm a lunatic!"

Teal didn't know who Saru was, other than her great-granduncle, but he smiled and just went with it, "Okay then, you are a _lunatic_."

"Thank you, I know I am," she grinned.

An odd smile bloomed on Teal's face, and it reminded Taylor of Dalzen, "You know...I like you. You're funny and interesting."

Taylor's cheeks turned pink, "R-Really?"

"Yeah," Teal nodded.

Silence fell over them for a few minutes until Teal decided he had to go.

"Well, I've gotta go. I'm sure you have something to do," he said.

"Y-Yeah...I-I do, actually. I'll see you around?"

"Sure," Teal nodded. "I'll see you around, Taylor."

They both bowed and Teal left. Taylor turned her head to Dalzen's ghost, starting to fade.

"Dalzen?" she was surprised.

"I'm glad he accepts why I did it..." Dalzen smiled contently, looking at Taylor. "Well, I finally can move on now..."

"Yeah...finally," Taylor grumbled.

"Oh yeah, the other me is heading your way, three o'clock."

Taylor turned her head to see the alive Dalzen, and she turned her head back at his ghost, only to find him gone with the wind. Taylor's breath caught in her throat from the surprise, but then she smiled.

"I made him happy," she smiled. "And I fixed how Teal feels about him...I feel good about myself now..."

"Taylor?"

She turned her head and Dalzen was behind her. She smiled.

"Hi Dalzen," she smiled. "I'm glad to see you."

"Yeah. What were you just talking about now?" Dalzen wondered.

"I...fixed how your son feels about you, but that is not an excuse to go without a mask or the modern-day Konoha uniform!"

"Damn," Dalzen sighed.

"You still could run into him by accident," Taylor warned.

"Aw...fine, alright..." he sighed. "Let's go the Intel Ward..."

"Yeah. That sounds fun," Taylor smiled and walked with Dalzen to the Intel Ward, feeling great about herself. She was glad to help in these situations. It made her feel good about herself and made her feel helpful. She looked up at the sky, a light-blue color with wispy cirrus clouds high in the sky. The warm morning sun shone on Taylor's face, and she welcomed the warmth. The day looked like a good day for them, and it sure was a good day.

.

.


	7. The Ghosts of Time

_Into The Future_

.

Chapter Seven  
**_The Ghosts of _****_Time_**

.

.

About a week passed with no luck in finding the jutsu, yet they still had a few more leaders to respond.

Taylor was irritated. They did everything they could possibly do to find the jutsu, which is just the sending letters to the other leaders, but with no such luck. Yeah, they still have a few more leaders to wait on, but she figured they would've responded by now. She felt a sense of irritation because she wanted to help Dalzen but they had no idea where the scroll was.

She picked a strawberry from her little garden and ate it, then looking out at the field. _I hope Dalzen is okay, _she thought.

Of course he's okay! Who wouldn't be okay when they're out of time? Dalzen wondered how could Taylor have dealt with being out of time when she was in his time. Well, she didn't really, but she was a more emotional person than he was. And Dalzen was doing everything he could from becoming emotional again. It was awkward the first time, and would be awkward still if he did it again.

Dalzen did his best to act like everything was okay. That it was his time. But...it's hard to forget you're in the future when you're living with your former student and his family, and the place you worked at has about 50 years worth of upgrades (including a small science department, whoever's idea that was is a pretty bad one according to Dalzen) and also...you're a grandfather.

Pretty hard to forget you're in the future for those reasons, wouldn't it?

Sakumo asked Dalzen to get Taylor inside so he did, but when he went outside, he saw a ghost in the fields and it wasn't Taylor or Kakashi. From the way he saw the ghost...it almost looked like the elder Hatake in his time. Could that have been...Coushander?

Taylor saw the ghost too. She studied it and noted that the ghost had a white robe on and had long, silver hair tied back. That couldn't have been Sakumo, he was in the kitchen cooking and he never used clones to work in the fields and it sure as heck couldn't have been Kakashi because he had short hair. The ghost turned around and Taylor got a better look of the person.

"Coushander...?" she whispered.

Dalzen looked at the girl, who was staring at the fields. Then, she sensed Dalzen and she turned her head.

"You saw him too?" she asked.

"Y-Yeah...I think so."

Taylor stood up and took her gloves off, "I swear, I keep seeing Coushander. I think I've even seen Kano and little Jiraiya a few times."

"Really?" Dalzen watched as she headed into the shed to put up her gloves.

Taylor nodded, coming back out and picked up the bowl of strawberries.

"You need me for something?" she asked.

"...Yeah," Dalzen nodded. "Sakumo wants you inside now...he's done cooking supper."

"Oh," Taylor smiled. "Thanks."

She went up the stairs and brushed past Dalzen, who was still watching the ghost in the fields. When Taylor went inside, Dalzen tried to catch Coushander's attention.

"Coushander!" he exclaimed.

The ghost kept working, not having heard his voice. Dalzen looked down awkwardly and wondered why Coushander couldn't hear him.

"Dalzen, aren't you coming?" Taylor asked, stepping back outside to look at him.

Startled out of his thoughts, the tall man looked at her.

"Yeah...sorry..." he followed her back inside.

.

Later that night, Taylor saw the ghost again, but this time heading into her father's room. She was drying her ear in the bathroom with the door half-open when she saw him.

"Coushander?"

He didn't hear her. Instead, he continued forward towards her father's room. Curiosity bit at the child and Taylor put the towel down and followed him into Kakashi's room.

"Coushander," she said again. "Can you hear me? Coushander?"

Still, he did not respond. But, he did happen to turn his head and glance at her and he looked at her in absolute surprise. He muttered something, but Taylor didn't hear it.

"Huh?" she looked at him. "Can you hear me?"

Coushander raised an eyebrow at her, then tried talking again.

"Taylor?" She made no response. "Huh? ...Can you hear me?"

No...she can't.

"I can't read lips," she groaned, looking around. "Damn! What is going on?"

Suddenly, Coushander looked down and smiled a bit. Taylor looked at his face and tried to figure out what he was looking at.

"What?" Taylor asked.

Coushander didn't hear her but her face said the same thing she was saying.

"Jiraiya," he pointed at the little kid, trying to grab her pants' leg.

"Huh?" Taylor looked down to her side. Attempting to grab her pants leg was a toddler with messy, pure white hair and red marks on either cheek, just under his eye. He had warm grey eyes, like Coushander did. She wondered who it was.

"Daddy?" The toddler mistook Taylor for Coushander, and he didn't see the man himself in front of her.

The elder looked at the little boy.

"Jiraiya, that's not me. I'm right here," he said. Taylor had a bad feeling as to who it was.

"J-Jiraiya..." she tensed up. "Oh my goddess...what is going on?"

Coushander brought Jiraiya to his side and Taylor shuddered.

"I need to find Grandpa..." she turned around and dashed out, and went out into the backyard, and Coushander and Jiraiya watched.

"T-Taylor!" Coushander watched her, then he looked down at his son.

"Grandpa!" Taylor ran out into the wheat. "Grandpa, I saw Coushander and Jiraiya! Something's wrong!"

Sakumo turned around, surprised.

"What?!"

"In Daddy's room...Coushander and Jiraiya..." she panted. "I don't know what to do...They can't hear me, though..."

"You said...Jiraiya and my dad?

"When Jiraiya was a toddler..." Taylor interjected.

"What?"

Taylor groaned and grabbed her grandfather's hand and dragged him into the house.

"T-Taylor! What are you —"

"I'm gonna show you!" she exclaimed, heading into her father's room.

They went inside, only to not see Coushander and Jiraiya.

"Taylor?" Sakumo looked at his granddaughter questioningly.

"But...they were right there in front of his bed!" she exclaimed.

"Taylor, are you okay?" Sakumo asked. "Because perhaps you were imagining it."

"I wasn't imagining it! How can I imagine Jiraiya as a toddler? I've only known him as an adult!" Taylor exclaimed. "I don't know what he looked like back then!"

"You're an artist," Sakumo pointed out.

"That's beside the point, Grandpa!"

"Taylor, calm down. You were hallucinating. I'm not surprised, you did hit your head the other day."

"Grandpa, I know that I wasn't hallucinating!" she exclaimed. "Please believe me...you know I would never lie to you..."

"I didn't see them..." Sakumo started cautiously. "I'm sorry —"

"I'm not going crazy!" she cried. "It wasn't my imagination!"

"Taylor..."

Angrily, Taylor threw her arms up in the air.

"Why did I even bother?" she asked, storming out of the room.

"Tayl —" Too late, Sakumo. She's gone. "Goddamnit."

After a few minutes of thinking, the elder Hatake walked out and finished what he was doing. Dalzen looked up from his book (more like the book Taylor gladly lended him) to watch Sakumo, watching him head out the backdoor. What just happened? He completely missed what just happened. He heard Taylor run into her room, and just watched Sakumo slowly make his way back to the wheat fields he was dragged away from.

.

The next morning, Dalzen went with Taylor to Intel. She was humming some random tune and Dalzen was trying to ignore it as best as he could.

"You are so much like your great-granduncle. You and your crazy knack for humming or singing..." He shook his head. "Drives me bonkers."

Taylor grinned.

"You were already bonkers weren't you?"

"That is completely beside the point."

They had gotten to the village when all of a sudden, they saw the village was crowded with ghosts walking around. Dalzen even saw an old friend dash by.

"Whoa!" he jumped back, surprised. "Takato?"

"Huh?" Taylor looked at the light-brown haired man.

Dalzen was quite shocked to see his old friend. The man stopped and turned his head and saw Dalzen. He looked at him, then at Taylor and questioned who she was. He spoke, but neither one of them heard him.

"What is going on?" Dalzen asked Taylor.

"I don't know," Taylor said. "Whatever it is, it ain't good."

"No it isn't," Dalzen agreed.

Takato tried to understand what was happening, and he knew Dalzen was away on the mission. Well...was. He remembered Nidaime asking if he'd seen Dalzen around. No, Takato had answered. He hadn't seen Dalzen since the night of his birthday party. What was he doing back in the village? And why in the world was he wearing the strange outfit? Takato could never forget those cold eyes, and he might have been the only person who could quickly see through his disguise. At least, for now. Takato shook his head as he tried to figure out Dalzen's insane outfit. He had to tell Nidai that Dalzen was back! And he was with a strange girl that oddly resembled Coushander and...Saru.

"Although...I might be able to do some research on this...let's hurry," Taylor said.

"Right," Dalzen followed her.

Takato dashed off in the opposite direction to find the Hokage. Nidai needed to know about this.

.

Sakumo walked out of his room, only to bump right into Coushander. Well, they didn't really feel it but they noticed the other was there. Both men looked at each other.

"Dad?" Sakumo wondered.

"Sakumotsu?" Coushander looked at his son.

Sakumo gasped, "Taylor wasn't hallucinating last night...she was dead serious."

"Sakumo, can you hear me?" Coushander asked.

Sakumo sighed.

"But I can't hear him," he said. "I know he's talking but I can't hear him..."

"Damn...what is going on?" Coushander wondered.

Sakumo was thinking the same thing.

"Something is not right..." they both said out loud, staring into each other's dark but warm grey eyes.

.

Dalzen approached Taylor, bringing her a cup of tea.

"Why're making me get you tea?" he grumbled.

"I might be onto something..." she said. "I can't get up unless I seriously have to."

He stared at the silver-haired girl and shook his head, handing her the drink. "What do you have?"

"Bad news, all in all," she said, taking a gulp out of her tea. She continued right after she wiped her mouth with her arm. "From what I've gathered...your time is trying to combine with my time..."

Dalzen raised an eyebrow.

"Combining? W-What does that mean?" he wondered.

"Means exactly what it sounds like," Taylor looked at him, her blue eyes were dark with dread. "Dalzen, it's why we saw Takato and why I saw Coushander and Jiraiya."

"You don't even know who Takato is," Dalzen grumbled. "How bad is it?"

"Uhmm..." Taylor looked down at her notes. "When we can hear them it'll be pretty bad but for right now...we're on the safe side...I think."

"You think?" Dalzen looked at her seriously. "Are you certain or uncertain?"

"Uncertain," Taylor admitted. "I'm pretty uncertain as to how bad it is. Nothing bad has actually happened but that prolly doesn't mean anything. Now when my dad comes home covered in bruises with a twisted ankle, then we have to worry."

She grinned at Dalzen's expression of, "Really?!"

"Haha, I am kidding," she giggled. "Naw, how we can tell shit is getting real is when we can physically hear and speak to them. That, I'm serious about."

"What happens when that happens?"

Taylor didn't want to answer that question. Dalzen watched the color drain from her face as she tried to hold back the information and that had Dalzen pretty concerned. Especially since he knew that Taylor was expressing concern. He was scared to ask what it was again, but he asked anyway.

"What?" Dalzen wondered. "You look pretty pale. C'mon. What is it?"

"Catastrophe," she answered hesitantly, looking at him. "Once the past and the present merge...we can kiss our asses goodbye because it would cause such an imbalance that..." she looked down and worded the rest of the sentence carefully. "Something catastrophic will happen...whatever it is...it's up to the gods."

Dalzen never looked so shocked and there was even a hint of fear in his grey eyes. He had no words to say, he couldn't find them.

"Yeah," Taylor agreed with his expression.

"W-What can we do?" he asked with a tone of caution in his voice.

"Well, we can get you back to your time and patch up whatever holes in the fabric of space and time have been created from these time jutsus," Taylor explained. "Unfortunately, we still do not have that jutsu to get you back. We're still waiting to hear from Iwa and a few other villages."

She paused, "...if there's even a remote chance that the other kage even have a time jutsu. I'm starting to have my doubts."

Dalzen looked down. He himself was starting to doubt there being another scroll with the jutsu, or a similar one. They sat in silence, not doing anything. Taylor didn't go back to doing research. Instead, she sat and sulked in the chair. Dalzen stood over her, not knowing what to do.

It wasn't long before Ibiki found his way to them.

"Good afternoon, Ojiisan," he greeted, looking at Taylor. "Afternoon, Miss Taylor."

"Afternoon..." they both muttered incomprehensibly.

Ibiki raised an eyebrow.

"You two look pretty melancholy," he noted. "What's up?"

"It's complicated," Taylor said.

"Am I allowed to know?"

"I don't see why not," Dalzen looked at Taylor.

"Yeah...alright..." Taylor sighed heavily and explained the situation with the ghosts to the youngest Morino. He listened intently, while his grandfather was holding his head in irritation.

By the time she was finished speaking, Dalzen could feel how nervous he was and Ibiki was pretty worried himself.

He blinked in disbelief, "So this is just the beginning of the apocalypse?"

"Yes," Taylor confirmed.

"Damn..." he muttered with disbelief.

"You know, I love doomsday stories...but as stories, not real life. This...is pretty scary. And you know something is scary when..." She pointed at Dalzen. "When Dalzen himself is pretty scared, or what passes as scared for him."

"Yeah really," he agreed.

Dalzen brushed his bangs back with his hand and allowed them to fall back into place. Then, he sighed heavily. Taylor clutched her notebook on her lap, looking pretty worried.

"I'm gonna tell Tsunade about this," she said, standing up.

"I'll come with," Dalzen offered.

"I have to stay here. Sorry..." Ibiki said. "Interrogations."

"That's fine..." Taylor walked away and Dalzen went with her as she headed out of Intel to go to the Hokage.

And both of them were absolutely silent on the walk but the air between them was filled with dread.

.

Ichida Takato found Nidaime and tried to get his attention.

"Mr. Hokage!" he exclaimed. "Mr. Hokage!"

The hokage turned his head to look at Takato.

"Yes, Mr. Ichida?"

"I saw Dalzen!" he answered. "I saw Dalzen with a strange girl...she looked like Coushander a bit with her hair and a bit like Saru in the face, minus the red marks, but she had a shirt with red spiral patches on the sleeves and she wore a vest like what Saru wore."

"A girl...that looks like Coushander and Saru?" the second hokage questioned.

"Yeah." Takato nodded. "I tried talking to Dalzen, but he couldn't hear me. I think he tried to talk to me but I didn't hear him. And then he and the girl started talked and they dashed off, I guess towards the Intel Ward."

Nidai's eyes widened.

"Did she have blue eyes?"

"Y-Yeah. Unnaturally ice-blue too," Takato nodded.

"Dear Buddha!" the hokage gasped. "That must be why Dalzen hasn't been found."

Takato furrowed his eyebrows, "Sir?"

"Sorry...that girl you were talking about? That was Coushander's great-granddaughter."

"Great..._Granddaughter_?" Takato was startled.

"She's from the future. She was here three years ago and she stayed with Coushander and Dalzen trained her in the absence of her team leader," Nidaime sighed. "As to why he was with the girl...he might be trapped in her time. He...he must've fallen into a trap and got sent into the future."

"That's...odd..." Takato stated.

"It might as well be," Nidaime said. "This is a relatively new jutsu, and it's been spread around to the other villages like crazy. One village reported their time-jutsu scroll was stolen, and I fear it was those two idiot kids who have Uchiha blood who have been getting themselves into so much trouble with the law."

Takato found himself rather speechless and Nidaime sighed.

"I don't know if there is much we can do. All I can hope for is Taylor to bring back Dalzen...because I haven't finished the jutsu."

"Man..." Takato was still shocked about the girl being related to Coushander.

"Mr. Ichida, I want you to watch your step," Nidaime warned. "I want you to make sure you do not get trapped in her time. There's something going on and I don't want things to get worse."

"Yes sir," Takato nodded.

"Good. You are dismissed now."

"Yes sir," Takato bowed and left.

.

.


	8. Life As We Knew It

_Into The Future_

.

.

Chapter Six  
_**Life As We Knew It**_

.

As soon as Taylor got to the Hokage's office with Dalzen close behind her, she told Tsunade. Unfortunately, at first she was going too fast for the Hokage to understand her so the Hokage had to calm her down.

"Taylor," she stood up and put her hands on the girl's shoulders. "Slow down. I can't understand you. Whatever is the matter?"

"_Gomen_," Taylor apologized. "But..." she took in a deep breath. "Dalzen and I had started seeing...ghosts, if you will...and I thought I'd check it out at Intel..." She looked at the Hokage with serious blue eyes. "It's not good. The past — his past, I mean — is trying to merge with our time. Right now...they're see-through and we can't physically speak or hear or even feel them. What happens if and when our timelines merge? Chaos. Pandemonium." Taylor's blue eyes darkened with dread, "Everything that's unimaginable...well...could happen...Anything you can name or can't! Basically...life as we knew it would cease to be...life as we knew it would be destroyed. It's basically a doomsday story I'd read come to life.

She looked down, "If you need to, look through my notebook. I did my research...five...excruciatingly long hours..." She handed it to the hokage.

"And she made me go get her tea..." Dalzen hung his head. "I can't even believe you did that, Taylor..."

"Shaddup. You should expect the unexpected," the girl was trying to make a joke, but she did not succeed really. This was no time for joking!

Dalzen shook his head.

"Sometimes I wonder about you..."

"What...?" the hokage stared at the girl.

"Yeah," Taylor knew the 'what' wasn't a 'what did you say?' what, it was a 'are you serious?' what. "And we still haven't found the jutsu to send him back and I have to work on a jutsu to patch up the holes in the fabric of space and time after we get him back. I hope I can do it soon too...I don't know how much time we have left before..." she swallowed hard. "...The 'apocalypse'..."

Tsunade, like everyone Taylor's told so far, had no idea what to say. All she did was nod her head, "Thank you, Taylor...uhm...I don't know what to say..."

"It's okay," Taylor assured. "I just wanted you to know about it. I mean...there isn't much we can do at the moment but I thought it would be a good idea to tell you..."

"Thank you," Tsunade smiled.

"We're gonna go now. Sorry to disturb you for crazy news."

"I'm used to it by now."

Offering an amused smile, Taylor left. Dalzen followed her out silently and walked just as briskly as she was, as Taylor was walking with much concern and worry.

"You're telling Kakashi and Sakumo, right?" he asked.

"Of course I am," she answered. "They must know about this."

She looked up, "But wait...Dad is still on a mission," she realized.

"He should be home tonight," Dalzen reminded. "He promised you that he'd be back tonight."

"When he says 'tonight', usually he means at two o'clock in the morning when I'm passed out in bed," Taylor grumbled.

"Hm."

Taylor sighed and went through the front gate, then going up the stairs of the front porch. Dalzen followed her silently into her house and the both took off their sandals. Without a word, they opened the front door and dropped their sandals by the door and walked in, Dalzen closing the door behind them.

"_Tadaima_..." Taylor groaned, going into the kitchen where she found Kakashi and Sakumo. "Huh? Wow Dad...you're early for once..."

Kakashi nodded.

"Gai said he could finish up the mission by himself so I just left him," he grinned. "And I promised the most important woman in my life I'd be back home," he winked at his daughter.

"Hm...I see," Taylor sat down beside Kakashi and looked at Sakumo.

"Grandpa I— "

Before she could tell him what she had planned on telling him, he spoke.

"Taylor...I'm sorry for not believing you last night," he apologized. "I saw him earlier...and we were surprised..."

"I was about to say something about that," Taylor admitted.

"Huh?" Sakumo looked at her.

That's when she went into detail, showing them the notes and giving the explanations behind them. Sakumo and Kakashi listened, and at this point Dalzen couldn't bear to hear it anymore so he covered his ears and pretended Taylor was just singing. Right now, he'd rather listen to her sing than her repeat her findings for the third time. Ironic, considering he hated when she started singing. She had a nice voice, Dalzen had to admit, but he liked quiet. He didn't listen to music and he didn't want to hear her singing. But right now, he'd rather hear that than her repeating herself.

Taylor didn't want to have to repeat her findings, but she had to so they would know. When she finished, Sakumo sighed.

"That explains a lot," he said. "Why I saw Dad, why you saw him and Jiraiya — "

"And why we saw Takato," Dalzen added.

"And Nidai. I thought I saw him earlier," Taylor added. "In Tsunade's office."

"Really?" Dalzen looked at her.

"Yeah," Taylor nodded. "Like...just for a moment. It wasn't for very long that I got to see him.

"Geez..." Dalzen sighed heavily.

"I don't know what to say," Sakumo muttered after a few moments of silence.

"Same..." Kakashi looked down.

Another moment of silence passed before Kakashi's warm grey eyes peered up. It wasn't often that he made an expression that his daughter would pull, but he did manage it. It was an expression of both concern and dread.

"How much time..." He swallowed hard. "Do we have?"

The father dreaded his daughter's answer. Taylor, with her head down, shrugged.

"Honestly, could be 24 hours or a week..." she answered with a quiet voice. "Or even months."

She glanced up a bit at Sakumo.

"Grandpa, did you hear Coushander at all?" she asked.

The elder Hatake shook his head.

"No, I didn't. He didn't hear me either," he answered.

"Good. That must mean we still have time to figure out how to get Dalzen-Sensei back to his time," Taylor breathed in a sigh of relief. "Thank the goddess..."

Sakumo sighed.

"So does this mean we're gonna have even more screwy weather?" he asked.

"Pretty much," Taylor sighed, just as it started thundering. She pointed behind her at the window. "My point exactly."

They all sighed.

"I'm sorry Sensei, that this has happened," Sakumo apologized to Dalzen.

"It's not your fault," Dalzen assured.

They all fell silent again and no one spoke a word when Sakumo got up to start cooking. There was just nothing to say.

.

Dalzen woke up late in the night when Taylor went outside into the backyard. He sat up, wondering what woke him up. Little did he know, it was Taylor going outside. Shrugging, he laid back down and tried to go back to sleep.

Taylor was frustrated, so she went outside to work on a tree outside the fenced land. And by work the tree, I mean punch the crap out of the tree.

She took off her gloves and her shirt, revealing an indigo tank top underneath. She sat the shirt and her gloves on the fence and tied her hair back. Then, she faced the tree and started punching the tree with her bare knuckles. She was pretty frustrated with what she had found the day before. How was she going to get Dalzen back and patch up the holes that the damned time jutsus created? What if they couldn't do it in time and the whole world ended?

She threw an extra powerful punch into the tree, which caused a wound on her knuckles that bled. She felt it, grabbed her wrist and then fell to her knees, watching as the blood began pouring out. Angrily, she banged her head on the tree trunk and she growled angrily.

"Damn it!" she yelled.

Then, she sat there, head resting against the trunk, clutching her hand, and beginning to cry.

"Damn it...what do I do?"

She cried, "Saru...what do I do? I want to help Dalzen..." She banged her good fist into the tree and made it start bleeding. "But we haven't been able to find the damn scroll!"

Again, she banged her head on the tree and cried in frustration.

"Damn it...I hate the feeling of helplessness..."

She sat there for nearly thirty minutes after that, crying uncontrollably. Suddenly, after those minutes had passed, she felt a hand on her shoulder. Not a real hand...like...someone's energy that felt like a hand. She looked up and saw it was Coushander. He looked concerned as he crouched down beside her.

"Whatever is the matter, my dearest granddaughter?" he asked, gently stroking her back. "Your face is red and wet with tears! Oh...Tell me, whatever is the matter my dearest?"

"Coushander," she whimpered.

"Don't cry," he pleaded. "Whatever is the matter?"

"I can't hear you..." she grumbled, knowing he was talking. Tears streamed from her face and her voice was shaky.

The elder remembered that and then pulled out a notebook from his robe, smiling gently at the girl.

"What?" she looked.

He pulled the pen from the spiral binding and flipped it open and started writing. Then, when he was done writing, he flipped it around to show her.

"Are you okay?" it read.

"No..." she shook her head.

Coushander turned it back around and flipped to a new page and wrote. Then he turned it around and showed her.

"Want to tell me?" it read.

Taylor shrugged.

"I guess..."

He stood up and gestured for her to follow him.

"Huh?"

He wrote in the notebook and showed her it, "Let's go inside."

"Okay..." She stood up and gathered her shirt and gloves and followed him back to the house. He led her to the bathroom and wrote, "Wrap up your hands first. I don't want those wounds to possibly get infected."

"Yes sir..." She washed out her wounds and wrapped it up in bandages. Then, they went into her room.

"Tell me what's up," Coushander wrote.

Taylor tilted her head and the eldest Hatake pointed at a notebook on her desk. She looked at the notebook.

"Oh..." She turned on her lamp and started writing, explaining everything that's happened in the past six weeks to him and included her findings as to why they can see each other at the end. She told him about Dalzen being there, that Tsunade had burned the original and the copy Sakumo had made, their struggle trying to find the scroll that had the jutsu, about Dalzen's encounter with his grandson and then her findings when she researched the ghosts they were seeing. Oh, and let's not forget about Taylor's contact with Dalzen's son.

"What?" Coushander muttered. "Dalzen is there...with you and Sakumo? Oh wait..."

He wrote it down and showed her. The younger Hatake nodded her head.

"Yes..." she sighed and then wrote, "Dalzen is asleep on the couch...last time I checked..."

He wrote on a new page, "And the world is coming to an end?"

"Yes," Taylor nodded hesitantly.

"By our times merging..." the elder didn't exactly know what that meant, but he knew it was bad. "Oh dear. That does sound bad."

Taylor groaned and wrote, "I'm scared Coushander...I don't know what else to do...we're trying to obtain the jutsu to get him back to your time but to no avail."

"I see..." the elder nodded and wrote, "I'm sorry, my dearest Taylor...but I am no help at all in these kinds of situations." And he gave her a wry smile, reminding her that he's not the man to go to for that, considering he's not a shinobi anymore.

Taylor read it and looked upset at him and returned that smile and she chuckled.

"I know," she whispered in a broken voice. "I know, Coushander..."

The elder sighed and stood up.

"Go to bed," he wrote in his notebook. "Please?"

She looked at her hands and nodded.

"Okay," she said.

He put his hand on her head and he actually could feel her soft hair. Taylor felt his actual hand on her head and they looked at each other.

"What...?" they both questioned.

To Taylor, Coushander became less see-through and more opaque, and vice versa with her to him.

"Oh no..." Taylor grabbed his hand, trying to make sure it wasn't a dream. "Not good!"

They both watched as the pale ghosts of each other became darker and more opaque.

"Coushander..." she whispered.

"I can hear you now..." he realized.

"Not good!" Taylor jumped up. "I've got to wake them up."

"Don't be so hasty!" he hissed. "Jiraiya is asleep and in your grandfather's room!"

"I'm not gonna wake him up," Taylor hissed back. "I will throw a pillow at my grandfather. Go out into the living room."

"And wake up Dalzen?"

"He's probably already awake," Taylor said, dashing out to get Sakumo and Kakashi. "I might've accidentally woken him up going outside and coming back in with you. Do as I say!"

Coushander sighed heavily and went out into the living room as Taylor woke her dad and grandfather.

She went to Kakashi's room first. She opened his door, her adrenaline pumping through her body from the sudden surge of fear. She hopped on his bed and put his hands on his shoulders.

"Daddy! Wake up!" she shouted, shaking his shoulders.

"GAH!" Kakashi jolted awake and sat up quickly, Taylor jumping out of his bed. Then, he looked at his daughter, surprised. "What the heck, Taylor?!"

"Living room," she dashed out to get Sakumo.

Dalzen woke up to Taylor running around. The Morino sat up, rubbing his head tiredly.

"Man, what is going on?" he yawned, looking up at Coushander. "Huh? C-Coushander?"

"Dalzen..." Coushander greeted. "Nice to see ya."

"Huh?!" Dalzen's eyes widened, realizing he just heard his friend. "What? Oh no...that's not good..."

Taylor came bounding into the living room with Kakashi and Sakumo.

"It's coming faster than we thought," she panted. "Our predicament has gotten a lot worse."

Sakumo, Kakashi, Dalzen and Coushander all looked at each other.

"You don't say..."

.

Everyone stared at each other, confused.

"What do we do?" Dalzen asked.

"Pray to God that we find the damn jutsu," Taylor answered.

"Don't think God is on our side at this point," Coushander admitted.

"Let's pretend she is," Taylor grumbled.

A few moments of silence passed.

"Taylor, go to bed," Kakashi ordered. "I'm gonna work on that jutsu to patch up the holes in the universe."

"Dad?" she looked at him.

"Coushander, you can sleep in my bed," Kakashi said. "I'm gonna be outside."

He left without Coushander's response.

"You should go to bed," Coushander told Taylor. "You've been awake since two."

"Alright..."

"You have?" Sakumo looked at his granddaughter, then looked down at her hands, wrapped up in bandages. "What were you doing up at two in the morning?"

"She was punching a tree," Coushander answered for her, knowing full well she wasn't gonna tell Sakumo willingly.

"Coushander!" she glared at him.

She coughed.

"Er...I mean...hey look at the time! I should be going to bed now," she corrected herself. "Night night, I love you all," she threw her arms around Coushander, hugged him, and then she disappeared into her room.

Sakumo sighed.

"Let's all go to bed," he suggested. "We'll figure things out in the morning..."

He turned around to go to his room, but he didn't go down the hall. He stayed in place.

"As long as we have a tomorrow," he added darkly, then going into his room.

Dalzen and Coushander both looked at each other. Both knew Sakumo wasn't fully doubtful, but then again that was him all grown up. There are bound to be differences between him as an adult and him as a child.

.

Taylor tossed and turned in her bed. Her dreams were filled with nightmares of what could possibly happen. Occasionally, she'd wake up and nearly scream. Then, she'd lay back down and go back to sleep. Despite how long she actually slept, she was still tired when she woke up.

She came out of her room around ten in the morning and sat down at the kitchen table.

"Anything?" she asked Kakashi, who was pretty much asleep with his head down on the table.

"He's sleeping," Sakumo hushed.

"Oh..."

She looked around.

"Where's Coushander?"

"Phased back into a ghost that we can't hear," Sakumo answered. "He's dealing with Jiraiya right now. Sorry."

"Oh...okay..." she looked at her father.

She noticed he didn't have a blanket to keep him comfy so she went back to her room, grabbed a blanket and went into the kitchen and sat down beside her father. Carefully, she draped the blanket over his shoulders and then she tried to get under his arm so she was close to him and under the blanket and then she laid against him. Kakashi felt her trying to get under his arm, so he put his arm around her and pulled her close to him.

"Hm..." he smiled softly and laid his head against Taylor and he held her in a comforting snuggle.

Sakumo smiled a bit.

"Aww..." he smiled. "So cute."

Dalzen looked and he noticed he was smiling too. Then again, who couldn't smile at a father holding his daughter, who was most likely scared right now.

"Aww..."

Taylor sighed softly and laid her head down on his head.

"I don't want to die," she whispered tiredly.

Unconsciously, Kakashi started stroking her long, silver hair and he whispered back, "I will never let you die, Taylor. I promise."

.

.


	9. We Are Going To Fix This

_Into The Future_

.

Chapter Seven  
_**We Are Going To Fix This**_

.

.

Another two days passed. Nothing happened, other than torrential rainstorms with occasional hail. Dalzen and Taylor went to Intel both days, Taylor off in the Science Wing and Dalzen in Interrogation. Taylor, in a very depressed way, played with the Newton balls they had in there, not really doing anything else. She was sorta stuck in some sort of daze where she just was too upset to do much. Dalzen occasionally would go check up on her, make sure she's okay. For awhile, after she finally told Kakashi and Sakumo and Dalzen, her feelings, she was a bit cheerier. Now lately, ever since the terrible news...she's been extremely depressed again. Dalzen just figures it would be a nice thing to do, check up on the youngest Hatake. He even offered to keep her company but she, in her own strange way, told him to back off. She didn't exactly tell him, but the look she'd give him was a sign of "back off, Dalzen" and the elder Morino sure as heck was not gonna take any chances, so he'd go back to interrogation.

He himself was pretty upset. Every time he passed Takato, he'd feel a pang of anger. Not at himself, not at Takato. At whoever did this to him. Dalzen didn't usually feel random emotions like anger, but he felt a bit of it when he'd walk by a fellow comrade and he had no idea how to react to the anger, so he just kept it inside and didn't say anything.

It rained when they were halfway home again, and Taylor forgot her umbrella.

"Dalzen?"

"Yeah?"

"I think I left my umbrella at Intel."

Dalzen shook his head.

"It doesn't matter," he grumbled. "I'll be fine..."

Taylor looked down.

"Alright..."

After a few moments, her stomach began hurting and she hugged her sides. The Morino noticed this and he looked at the Hatake.

"You okay? You look pretty pale..."

"I-I'm fine..." She clutched her vest and tried to keep her groan quiet. "Just...a little sick to my stomach...Perhaps from being angry..."

Dalzen looked up at the sky. The rain was coming down really hard...and they weren't about to go back to Intel just to get her umbrella... He sighed heavily and unzipped his modern-day Konoha vest and held it over Taylor.

"Let's not get you even more sick," he suggested. "Just use this to keep you relatively dry."

"Are you sure?" Taylor asked him reluctantly.

"Yeah," Dalzen smiled assuringly at the girl. "I'll be fine. I don't get sick like you do."

"A-Alright..." She gingerly took the vest out of his hands and held it over her head. "T-Thank you, Dalzen."

"It's nothing, Taylor."

When they got home, Taylor went into the kitchen and she got a can of ginger ale to settle her stomach. Kakashi saw her as he came in from the backyard and he gave her a concerned look.

"You okay?"

"Y-Yeah..." Taylor walked over to him and gave him a kiss on his cheek. "I'm just feeling a little under the weather, that's all."

"Oh..." he smiled. "Go rest then. You need it."

She smiled and hugged him.

"I'm way ahead of you, Daddy. Love you."

He gave her a kiss and a hug back and let her go into her room to rest. He watched her and sighed heavily.

"She hasn't been sick since last September," he remarked quietly to himself. "Minus the occasional nausea from cramping because that doesn't count."

Dalzen stood over the sink and wrung his vest out. He looked at Kakashi and nodded, acknowledging the father's ramblings, then he looked down and saw ghost Jiraiya. Well, the toddler. He has no idea how Jiraiya looks when he's much older.

"I hope we can fix the timelines," he murmured.

Jiraiya stared up at the tall man curiously.

"You'll learn about me soon, I hope...if we survive..." the tall man finished wringing out his vest and he walked away to change into dry clothes and dry out the outfit he was wearing earlier. Then, he sat on the couch and tried to sort himself out.

.

Taylor, in her white robe and with her hair down, laid in her bed and snuggled her Nyanko-Sensei doll. For the most part she was still, except for the occasional movement to get comfortable again. She woke up a few times in her nap, and got a sip of ginger ale to settle her upset tummy.

At one point, she woke up to Dalzen coming in to give her a new can of ginger ale, as Kakashi told him to do.

"She usually drinks two if her stomach is hurting," Kakashi explained. "And I promised Dad I'd start cooking about now...And he's working on something out in the shack..."

Dalzen shrugged and did as Kakashi said. He walked into Taylor's room, knowing full well she was asleep and he opened the can for her. Little did he know, those damned soda cans made a loud noise when popped opened. Startled by the sound, he thought, _Crap! Please don't wake up, Taylor...please don't wake up!_

Despite his silent pleadings, the youngest Hatake opened her eyes and looked up at him.

"Dalzen?"

"Go back to sleep," he ordered her quickly.

"What are you doing...?" she groaned.

"I was doing what your father told me to do," he answered quietly. "I brought you more soda..."

"Oh...thanks..."

"No problem," he turned around. "Go back to sleep..."

"Okay..." she closed her eyes and Dalzen left without another word.

After Taylor drank more soda, she dozed off and had random dreams (which were really memories) play in her subconscious. It was those two months. Not everything that happened...just what her mind felt like playing for her. She dreamt of those two months she was in their time.

That moment when she met Dalzen, Coushander, and Kano. She'd had a bad injury, and she passed out. That was all she could remember before she blacked out. Then, she woke up in a room where Dalzen and Kano were in, keeping watch of her, and she panicked and ran out. When she ran from her room, she dashed into the living room, only to be greeted by the elder Hatake. _He grabbed both of her wrists and held her in place, glaring at her._

_"Whatever are you doing, child?" he had asked the twelve-year-old girl._

_Fear filled her body as the man grew impatient. "...Well?" the man impatiently stared her down._

_That's when she started squirming. "AHH! Let me go! Let me go!"_

_It took Kano and Dalzen to convince him to let her go and when he did, she fell to her knees and she held her hands up in defense._

_"Don't hurt me!" she had cried out._

After that, the three of them had to calm her down and then Dalzen and Kano tried to convince Coushander to keep her until she had a way home, and he gave into it. And Coushander was glad that they pressured him into keeping her. She was quiet, sweet, cheery and never asked for much.

Taylor dreamt of the battle and how the elder Hatake had saved her. The guy who started the whole mess held her captive, leaving Kakashi, Sakumo and Dalzen completely helpless. Well, for the most part Dalzen was already helpless; his opponents were mostly unaffected by _genjutsu_. They were all helpless, up until Coushander snuck in behind the captor.

"Let the girl go," he commanded, pointing the black katana at the captor.

He didn't let Taylor go until Coushander threatened to hurt him, in which case the captor released the girl into the elder's arms, forbidding her from going to her father. Then, the elder fought the guy who hurt his great-granddaughter and then Sakumo and Kakashi took over. Then, Taylor joining in and she helped defeat him with, oh surprise, genjutsu.

Then, she passed out and woke up in the hospital. After she was given the OK to go home, they all went to Coushander's house and Taylor said her goodbyes. It was pretty emotional for Taylor to say goodbye to Coushander and Dalzen, and when she got home Saru too, but she had to go back to her time with her father and grandfather. The timelines would've gotten completely out of whack and they couldn't let that happen. Taylor and Coushander were both crying but Dalzen wasn't since he wasn't an emotional person to begin with. After the goodbyes, she went home and saw Saru. They danced (for whatever reason crossed Saru's crazy mind), despite neither one of them knowing how to dance really and then they had to say goodbye.

It was funny, their attempt at dancing. Perhaps Saru just was in the mood to try to dance, and how he thought she could dance was beyond Taylor. She'd never been able to dance, so why would he try to dance with her? Perhaps it's only because he was bored. That wouldn't surprise Taylor all that much.

By the time she got to that point in her dream, she had woken up. Taylor opened her eyes and groaned softly, then looking at her alarm. It was five-thirty in the evening, and she could smell the ramen being made in the kitchen. She sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

"Mh...smells so good," she murmured, stretching her arms behind her head. "Oh, I feel so much better..." she drank her soda and then stood up and slipped her socks on and walked over to her door.

She opened the door and walked out, heading into the kitchen. Kakashi was making supper, and it was almost done too. She went out and sat on the couch beside Dalzen. Dalzen was reading a book she gave to him to read and he seemed unfazed by the fact that she was sitting right beside him. She looked over his hands and at the book and tried to read what he was reading. He turned his head slightly to look at the next page in the book and he was quiet, unaware that the Hatake girl was sitting beside him. Kakashi peeked into the living room and saw her sitting beside Dalzen. He chuckled and made no effort to alert Dalzen that Taylor was watching him.

Dalzen was reading a book called, "Natsume Yuujinchou" and the _only_ reason he was reading it was because he had nothing else better to do with his time there. Under normal circumstances, he wouldn't have started reading the story but since it was better than laying on the couch doing nothing, he decided to read it.

"Why is Sensei always coming home drunk?" Dalzen wondered aloud, whether he realized it or not. He flipped the page.

Taylor tried to hold herself back from giggling and suddenly, Dalzen realized someone was sitting beside him. He looked over and jumped at the sight of Taylor.

"GAH!" he was definitely surprised. "Taylor, what are you doing?!"

"..." She shrugged. "Reading with you?"

"Really?" he shook his head. "I swear, sometimes I just don't understand you...much like I never fully understood Saru and his silly trivialities. Have I ever mentioned you are a lot like Saru?"

Taylor giggled, "Yes, yes. I've gotten that a lot from you, Dalzen."

He snapped the book closed and sighed.

"I'm amazed Coushander never got pissed off with you," he said. "He was rather...irritable when Jiraiya came, as Kano told me."

"Why?"

Dalzen looked at Taylor, "Because, Saru was his older brother, right? And besides, this is Coushander we're talking about. He's a strange man..."

"Well, wasn't it because Jiraiya looked a lot like Saru? Of course the red marks are in different places... Saru's was on the corner of his eyes, Jiraiya's is under his eyes and goes almost all the way down to his jaw. Not completely..." She looked at Dalzen. "I shouldn't have said that...you're only aware of Jiraiya as a baby... I admit, he is adorable but man does he grow up to be a freaking pervert. Remind me again why Coushander decided to have another kid?" Taylor grinned.

"Heheh..." Dalzen chuckled. "I don't remember. I think it just happened..."

"I think Coushander got it right the first time, he had no need to try again. His first child came out right, Jiraiya...let's not get started on Jiraiya..."

Dalzen chuckled a little more, "Don't tell me much more, alright? I don't want to know more things that I shouldn't know."

"Oh...right..._Gomen_."

"It's...okay," Dalzen sensed a smile coming and he let himself smile. For some reason, he felt like he had to smile a little more, especially in Taylor's presence. It was something about her that made him want to smile much more than usual. He smiled at Taylor and pulled the book back up to his face and continued reading, with Taylor reading over his shoulder.

.

The next morning, Taylor and Dalzen went back to Intel and of course, ran into Takato again. But instead of the questioning looks that they all had the first time, they smiled and waved and Takato waved back and they continued on their way. Dalzen and Taylor split up once they got to the Intel ward and they did their own thing. Almost. Dalzen was going through papers and he paused and took a break. He leaned back almost completely in his chair and stuck his arms behind his head and gazed up at the ceiling, thinking for a moment as to how to cheer up Taylor. He knew there was something he could do to cheer her up. He closed his eyes and thought silently. He didn't like the idea of tickling her. That wasn't something he would do, plus she would likely kick him if he ever attempted that. He recalled Sakumo telling him that she used to like being tickled, but eventually she grew to hate it and one time, when he tried to tickle her, she kicked him in the chin. He was lucky to not have to go to the hospital for that.

What else could Dalzen do...? An idea struck him like lightning and he sat up and began going through the pile again. Inoichi handed him some papers that were rather unimportant, and those were the ones that needed to be sorted out and tossed in the trash. So perhaps if he took the unimportant documents to Taylor, perhaps they could tear the paper up together and throw them out the window or something.

Perhaps that'd relieve their tension. He finished sorting through, tapped both stacks of paper to straighten them and took both out of the room. He first went to Inoichi, handed him the stack that was only full of important papers, then took the rest to the science ward, where Taylor was playing with the Newton balls. Again. He put his hand on her shoulder and startled her into looking up at him.

"Dalzen?" she was surprised. "...What are you doing here?"

"To try and cheer you up," he said, looking her square in her eyes. His grey eyes held her blue-eyed gaze. She tried to break away, but he was good at holding her gaze. Not even Kakashi has managed to hold Taylor's gaze quite as well as Dalzen, and when Kakashi brought that up one day all Dalzen could do was chuckle a little, _I have had practice. After all, I taught your father._ Kakashi laughed a little himself. That was true. "Cheer up, kiddo," Dalzen told her, showing her the papers they could tear up. "See these papers? Yamanaka-San had me sort these out of more important papers. He said we were free to rip them up and toss them out."

Taylor's eyes brightened, "...Seriously?"

Dalzen nodded, "Come on, I'll take you to the room I was working in. It's pretty quiet."

Taylor got up and followed Dalzen back to the room he was working in.

.

Dalzen took the girl back home after they were done ripping paper with their bare hands. Taylor might've earned a few papercuts, but she didn't care. That was rather fun, though it didn't help relieve her tension. Not even tossing them in the incinerator helped. But, still. She had fun, and that's all that really counted. They went home and Taylor decided to spend time outside on the bench swing, and she stayed out there for quite some time by herself, staring at the clear-blue sky. A cool, crisp breeze rushed past her and brought a few dead leaves onto the deck. She noticed that the leaves were red and yellow, hinting at autumn. It was September now. She closed her eyes and smiled. Soon, Sakumo was gonna start baking cinnamon bread again with their freshly grown wheat and she couldn't wait for that. The cinnamon bread was always a treat for them. Even Kakashi liked it, and he didn't care all that much for sweets to begin with but he couldn't help but enjoy the treat his father made. Taylor hung her head and dozed off for a few moments, until the back door opened. The man that opened the door was of course, Dalzen.

He walked over to her and poked her arm.

"Are you sleeping?" he wondered.

She opened her eyes.

"Sorry..."

"No..." Dalzen shook his head. "Don't be. I was just curious." He decided to take a seat beside her. In between them was Taylor's Nyanko-Sensei doll and he wondered why he was out in the open like that. Maybe she had him just because.

The Morino sat straight up with his hands in his lap and he gazed out at the wheat. Taylor held her head back up and looked around, the rested her arm on the armrest beside her and looked at Dalzen, then glanced at Nyanko-Sensei and grinned, looking back up at Dalzen.

Dalzen noticed her occasionally glancing at him and looking down suddenly, he said, "Taylor, I know you are staring at me."

"...Sorry..." Taylor looked down.

They fell silent again and Taylor glanced back at Nyanko-Sensei and pushed him close to Dalzen. His eyes darted over to Taylor and stopped her from pushing the plush onto him and he pushed it back at her. Taylor grinned and did it again once Dalzen retreated his hand and looked away. Taylor quickly put Nyanko-Sensei in Dalzen's lap and pulled her arms back before he realized she did it. His attention went from the wheat fields to his lap, then at Taylor.

"What are you trying to accomplish?"

"I dunno." Taylor grinned.

He sat the plush back down in between them and Taylor started giggling. He looked back at her.

"What?"

"You."

"What did I do?"

"Oh nothing," she said suddenly, almost like Saru in a way.

Dalzen looked at her, smiling like her uncle. She, for a moment, could've passed for Saru with that goofy smile. He looked forward again and tried to pretend they weren't talking.

"Oh come on, you know you want to snuggle Nyanko," she grinned.

"Not really."

"Damn," she looked away.

Dalzen rested his elbow on his armrest and rested his face in his hands and gazed out to the side. This child was driving him insane, as if he wasn't already there. But for some reason, it really didn't bother him as much as it probably should. Perhaps it was because Taylor was just trying to get them both to grin and stop being melancholy, but with what's going on, could they really help it? Not really... Dalzen kinda wished ripping the paper to shreds would've helped a lot more than it did. At least they tried. They sat in silence for the rest of the time they wanted to stay outside.

.

Late that night, while Kakashi was cooking, Taylor was in her room coloring a picture for Dalzen. (Chibi Dalzen anyone? Sounds great...). Once she was done, she stood up and decided she'd give it to Dalzen later. The smell of soup hung heavily in the air, and Taylor was starting to get hungry just by smelling the air. She pushed her chair in and went to her door. Before she could open it, there was a scratch at her window and she had to look at it. Standing at her window was a messenger bird with a scroll for her.

"Huh?" she turned around and walked back to her bed to open the window. She knelt on the mattress and opened the window, then reaching her small hand out to grab the scroll.

"Thank you," she smiled.

The bird nodded and flew off, leaving Taylor to walk out of her room and read the scroll.

"Hm..." she read it and stopped in the living room and gasped.

"Dad!" she walked into the kitchen. "Iwa has it!"

Kakashi looked at his lunatic daughter.

"Huh?

"I just got a letter from the Tsuchikage and he has the scroll with the time jutsu on it," she grinned.

"Really?" Kakashi walked over to her. "Let me see?"

"Sure," she gave him the scroll. "There."

He took the letter and read it.

"Finally," he breathed a sigh of relief.

"After supper, I will go to Tsunade and make it a mission to go to Iwa and use the jutsu," she said. "I'm assembling a team of five; you, Grandpa, Dalzen, Ibiki and me."

Kakashi glanced at her with an uneasy look in his warm-grey eyes.

"Dad is a civilian, Taylor. He can't come," he pointed out.

Taylor shook her head, "I don't care. I'll talk Tsunade into it, I promise. I just...I want Grandpa on this mission...because Dalzen is his sensei and..."

She looked down.

"I don't know...I just think that it makes sense for him to come with..."

Dalzen walked in, surprised to see Taylor.

"Huh? W-What's going on?"

Taylor turned around to look at her friend and grinned.

"We're gonna fix this, Dalzen," she promised.

"What?"

"Iwa has the jutsu," Kakashi explained. "And Taylor is going to assemble the team to go there to use it."

Dalzen looked at the youngest Hatake.

"R-Really?"

"Mhm," Taylor smiled. "Really."

"That's great!" Dalzen exclaimed, oddly happy. Although, who wouldn't be happy to know that there is a way home?

"After I eat, I'll go get Tsunade's permission to assemble a team and use the jutsu to get you back," Taylor grinned.

"Good," Dalzen nodded.

.

As soon as Taylor finished eating, she ordered everyone to gather their stuff.

"I want y'all to be prepared to leave immediately," Taylor explained, getting her stuff together. "Iwa is five days away and we haven't got a lot of time. Dalzen, can you draw a quick map of Iwa?"

"Give me a sheet of paper and a pencil, and I can try," Dalzen sighed.

"Good," Taylor handed him a piece of 11x14 inch bristol board and a pencil and had Dalzen draw out the map.

"Are you sure about having me on the team, Taylor?" Sakumo asked.

"I'm positive. Just do as I say and get ready, all y'all," she ordered. "I'll be back in about thirty minutes...give or take."

She slid her katana into its sheath and slung her backpack over to the door, then she left quickly to go talk to Tsunade.

.

Taylor quickly found Ibiki and told him what was going on and told him to meet her at her house outside the village for a mission and he did as she said, while she headed for the Hokage.

.

As soon as she got to Tsunade's office, she knocked on the door.

"Come in," came the hokage's voice.

She walked in and up to Tsunade's desk.

"I just received word from the Tsuchikage...and he has the jutsu to send Dalzen-Sensei back to his time and to repair the holes in the fabric of space time. I need to make that trip with a team I've composed," the youngest Hatake explained.

"Alright, who did you pick other than Dalzen since he has to go?"

"Kakashi Hatake, Sakumo Hatake and Ibiki Morino," Taylor answered with a steady voice.

"Sakumo? But he's not a —"

"I don't care," Taylor shook her head. "We need Grandpa on this mission. He is Dalzen's former student, and I do not see why he can't come, if only just to say goodbye."

Tsunade stared at the girl, wondering what to say that won't upset her.

"Please Tsunade," Taylor begged. "He still helps me train so he's just as he was two years ago. We don't have time to argue about this, just please allow him this one last mission."

The hokage looked down.

"Alright, fine. I will permit it," she sighed in defeat. "Just this one mission though!"

Taylor smiled, "Thank you Lady Tsunade."

"Now, get on with your mission as fast as you can," the hokage glanced back up at Taylor and she smiled wryly. "The world is waiting for you, Hero of the Leaf."

Taylor bowed, not catching the very last part but oh well.

"Thank you Lady Tsunade, I'll be back in a few weeks and that is a promise."

"You better," Tsunade smiled as Taylor left as quickly as she came. Then, the hokage stood up and turned around to look out the window. It took a few minutes but eventually she caught sight of Taylor running as fast as she could to go get started on the mission and the hokage smiled a bit, lost in thought. _She'll be a legend like her father and her grandfather before her and I am almost certain her name will be the Hero of the Leaf_, she thought positively.

The white light of the sun filtered in and reflected off the hokage's face, _I'm almost certain._

.

As soon as she got back to her house, Ibiki was already there, waiting patiently for her. She ran up to her fence and jumped over it. Then, she turned and looked at him.

"Give me a few moments, Ibiki, to get everyone else out here and then we'll start our mission."

"Right..." the youngest Morino watched her dash back into the house.

Taylor opened the door and grabbed her backpack and slung it over her shoulder.

"Our mission is a go!" she gestured for them to get out. "Let's go!"

Kakashi, Dalzen and Sakumo got out of the house and just before Taylor could follow them out, she saw Coushander and Jiraiya. Coushander looked concerned.

"Taylor...what are you doing...?"

"I'll be fine," she gave him a thumbs up. "I promise you, Coushander. I'll be back, I promise," she promised, even though he can't hear her. She smiled sweetly at the elder and she turned around, about to leave.

"No, d-don't leave me here alone," Coushander whined. "Taylor—"

Taylor closed the door behind her. Silently, she locked the door and bounded down the porch steps and rushed over to the team she assembled.

"Our mission is a trip to Iwa to the Tsuchikage," she made clear. "He has the scroll to get Dalzen back to his time. The trip takes five days, give or take. I know it's a bit late in the evening, but we're heading out to the other side of the country, where there will be a small inn we will be staying in for the night since we're gonna need our sleep for the next few days. I stay there when I'm heading that way. So, if I'm right...we're heading northwest."

"Yes," Dalzen nodded. "I've made maps before and I know Iwa is northwest."

"Oh, well that's great," Taylor grinned. "Well, we don't have any time to waste. Let's go!"

.

.


End file.
